The Sacrifices I Made
by ObliviateMeQuietly
Summary: The Battle Of Hogwarts ends in disaster; Harry is killed by Voldemort, and the order flees into hiding. McGonagall gives Hermione a task that if completed will save the wizarding world, could save her friends. She is sent back in time to the Marauders era, and she is to defeat Voldemort before it is too late.
1. Disaster Strikes

A/N Hello all! Er, well, welcome to my new story! I've kind of fallen in love with the concept of Hermione going back in time and having a bigger part in the war. Her being with the Marauders just kind of…fits

I myself am a bit saddened by the first chapter, but I really wanted my story to be different to other back in time ones. I didn't want to feel like I was stealing someone else's idea with the same 'another horcrux' concept.

I've rated this story M for language, some violence and possibly a bit of smut mentioned in the future

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Hermione's blood pulsed loudly in her ears as she watched the scene before her, her wand gripped so tightly in her hands that her knuckles went white. Most of the death eaters had fled, but a few were still fighting in the corridors, or standing in the doorway to the great hall, watching the quarrel between Harry and Voldemort with cold eyes.

Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.

"The true master if the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy."

Blank shock showed on Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.

"But what does it matter?" He said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: we duel on skill alone…and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy…"

"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him."

Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it. Everything apart from the voices of the two was silent. The Boy Who Lived and Lord Voldemort. It all came down to this very moment, the fate of their lives, the fate of the wizarding world, the fate of the entire planet. If Voldemort won, he'd take over the entire world. There would be nobody to stop him. The order was practically nonexistent, a lot of the members having been killed in the big battle.

Hermione jumped as a cool hand wrapped around her elbow, and looked up to see that Kingsley had squeezed in between her and Ginny. Hermione strained her neck to see, and it seemed he had grabbed the young red-head's arm too. Ron was silent on her other side, watching Harry tempt Voldemort.

Kingsley said nothing as the two girls exchanged a quick glance. He didn't even look at them. The dark skinned man stood tall beside Hermione's average frame, but he had that familiar look of worry on his face, his shoulders slacking his usual confidence. His eyes were on a different woman; someone older, wiser. McGonagall nodded at Kingsley once, her eyes trailing to look at the young woman stood on his right hand side.

Her eyes, too, were filled with worry. Even more so when she looked at Hermione. This made Hermione's stomach twist nervously. The two just stared at each other for a moment, before they each turned back to the scene in the centre of the hall.

"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does…I am the true master of the Elder Wand."

A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them, as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand:

"_Avada Kerdavra!"_

"_Expelliarmus!"_

The bang was like a cannon-blast and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead centre of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided.

Hermione watched in horror, her pulse sky rocketing as for a second they were all blinded, masked from the view of Harry and his arch nemeses as the deadly green ray of light met the red of Harry's. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Draco's wand flew high in the air, and Harry fell backwards towards the ground, his body limp.

For a moment there was nothing, just the solemn silence of the hall. Then the screams started. On the other side of Kingsley, Ginny screamed loudly, her hand moving to cover her mouth.

"_No!" _ she sobbed loudly, trying to step forward to reach the body of her lost love.

"_Harry!" _Hermione choked, her throat thick with the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

Never once had she thought that this would happen, she had always believed in Harry, believed that he could beat his foe. But now he was gone. For the second time that night Hermione started to weep, the thought of her best friend being dead too much for her.

The young woman turned, her eyes instantly finding those of her best friend. He reached for her, tears spilling over. She also outstretched her arms as the tears started to streamline down her face, seeking comfort from her friend.

Wails and sobs were heard all around the room, accompanied by screams as the left over death eaters started to attack again.

"_R-Ron,"_ Hermione croaked as she grasped his hand, but the two were soon torn apart as Kingsley tugged on her arm, and Mr. Weasley was seen grabbing Ron by the shoulder, George on his other side. Kingsley and Mr. Weasley gave each other a sharp nod, and then Hermione felt something tugging at her naval. With a pop, they were gone.

It was a place Hermione had never been to before, another Order safe house, she presumed. For the first two days, they trudged around the house like ghosts, consciously flicking glances out the window every few minutes, expecting an army of death eaters to storm across the field which the house sat in, then attack them. Hermione already felt the world was changing, the air around her seemed thicker, darker. Without Harry, she felt there was no hope. There was nobody else out there who was capable of defeating Voldemort.

For the first few hours, it had just been Kingsley, Ginny and Hermione. But soon after that the house began to fill with others, the Weasleys, Andromeda Tonks with her grandson. Teddy made nights bearable for Hermione. The darkness filled with his loud cries for hours, and Hermione lay awake staring at the ceiling as he did. She was strangely thankful for his presence. If he hadn't been there, she would have felt afraid of the dark, for she knew that they others, like her, were waiting to be attacked.

Every now and then people would glance at Hermione and Ron as they sat by the front window silently. They were waiting for the two of them to break, as Ginny had. But the two friends were trying to stay strong. Harry wouldn't have wanted them to break down, to lose the fight in them.

On the third day everyone sat around the conjoined kitchen and dining room, silently eating the lunch Mrs. Weasley had cooked up for all of them. They were about halfway through when the front door opened and a very frail and tired looking Professor McGonagall walked inside, holding a rather ratty looking handbag by her side.

"Miss Granger, I need for you to follow me." She said, looking at the young woman sitting at the bench beside Ron.

Hermione looked up at the older woman and pushed her nest of brown curls from her face. Kingsley looked over at the two young adults sitting at the bench, before looking over at McGonagall and catching her eye. The two of them nodded, before McGonagall looked back to Hermione.

"Why?" Ron asked as Hermione slipped from the stool. The question was going through all of their minds, but nobody except Ron would ever question Minerva McGonagall.

"It's quite important. And it is also private, between Miss Granger and myself." The older woman stated in a casual tone, although her face showed that she meant business.

Hermione stepped forward, sighing irritably as Ron wrapped his hand around her upper arm.

"Mione, she could be an imposter." He muttered to her, his eyes going to his fathers, searching his eyes.

"She knew where the house was, Ronald. She would have been told by the secret keeper." Hermione said. "And everyone else trusts her. So I do too." She looked at her friend, giving him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"I'll be fine." She assured him, before she walked off, following her old transfiguration professor down the hallway. They ended up in a small room on the second floor, which McGonagall made sure to sound proof and lock so nobody could hear, or disturb them.

"Take a seat, Miss Granger." The woman spoke to Hermione as she settled into the chair behind the desk.

Hermione's stomach flipped nervously, but she stepped forward and settled into the small but comfortable seat in front of the desk.

"Have I done something wrong, Professor?" She asked a little anxiously.

"Of course not, child, why would you think such a thing?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow at the girl, who squirmed a little in her seat.

"Well, I just thought, you've bought me here all alone and you said it was private so-" Hermione flushed just a little at her rambling and fell silent.

"You have done nothing wrong," The professor assured her with a reassuring look, before she started rummaging through the bag beside her. She pulled out a small, and very beautiful wooden jewellery box. It looked very old, old enough to be Hermione's grandmothers.

McGonagall placed it on the desk in front of Hermione, saying nothing.

"Not to be rude…" Hermione stated. "But, what is it for?"

"You, dear," McGonagall said simply. "Open it,"

Hermione looked at her favourite Professor quizzically for a moment, but did as she was told, reaching forward and taking the box hesitantly. Her fingers skimmed over the pattern on the top of the lid, staring down at the box, before she opened the lid and looked inside. She almost dropped the lid in surprise.

"A time turner?" her voice squeaked a little bit, showing her surprise. The older woman didn't even blink.

"My own time turner." She said, her hands clasped on the desk.

"I-but…what is it for?" Hermione's eyes searched McGonagall's as she repeated her words from before stupidly.

"You, dear," The Scottish woman repeated herself also, and only then did her face start to show sorrow.

Hermione's eyes widened a little bit, and she stared at the woman in front of her. With a small sigh, McGonagall leaned back and closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her forehead.

"Albus always had a plan…" She started. "That if Harry was to fail, if he were to die, if we were to lose….that a certain smart, young woman would use that time turner, and go back in time, to his parents' time at school, and she would defeat Voldemort before it could get to this point."

Hermione's hands trembled slightly around the box as she listened to her speak.

"But how do you know he meant me?" She asked feebly.

The older woman smiled at this. "Who else could he mean, dear? It has always been you, you've been there for Harry, been through almost as much as he has. You are a very clever, strong young witch. And he was certain that you could do this."

Hermione stared down at the time turner in the box for a few minutes as she thought about what she had just heard. Go back in time? Defeat Voldemort? How was she to do that? She couldn't. That had always been Harry's fate, not hers.

"What am I to do?" She asked at last, looking back up to the older woman.

"You are to go back in time to James Potter's third year at Hogwarts. Befriend him, and the others, but make sure that Pettigrew is never trusted. There is a potion in the box for you to take. An age decreasing potion, that way you will fall into their group."

Hermione nodded, her flingers clenching a little around the wooden box in her hands. Her gut twisted at the mention of Pettigrew. She would make sure he was never trusted, that he never betrayed James and Lily. That way, Harry would grow up being loved, having a proper family.

"Find the Horcruxes, and when the time is right destroy them."

Hermione nodded again, breathing a small sigh. At least she knew where some of them were.

"And then afterwards?" She questioned the woman sitting before her.

McGonogall's face cracked at that, her eyes growing sad.

"Miss Granger…you of all people know that the time turner does not go forwards, only back."

Hermione closed her eyes, bowing her head. She would never be able to return. Never see Ron again, Ginny, George, or see young Teddy grow up.

"You would be saving the world, Miss Granger. You would make sure that Harry doesn't ever have to grow up feeling unwanted. He wouldn't have the weight of the world thrust upon his shoulders. He would never have to face The Dark Lord again."

Hermione nodded weakly, glancing up at her mentor.

"Afterwards, you will be able to have a normal life, to live like others do. It will make the world a happier place. You will save us all."

"I know." Hermione said quietly, bobbing her head. "When do I leave?"

"Now," The Scottish woman said slowly. "I will accompany you to your place of departure. But after that…" She trailed off.

_After that Hermione would be on her own._


	2. The Trip Back in Time

Hermione looked around the alley way she stood in with Professor McGonagall, holding the small box to her chest. There was a dumpster in front of her, and behind her, were a few ladders, which lead up the wall to numerous windows.

"The back of Grimmauld Place." Professor McGonagall offered as she looked up at the building behind her, looking at the windows with her lips pursed.

Hermione's eyebrows knotted as she turned to look at the back of the building, glancing over at her Professor quizzically.

"If I'm correct, that window there is Sirius', and the one above it, Regulus." The older woman pointed as she spoke, before turning from the wall and looking at Hermione.

"But, Professor, why are we here?" Hermione was puzzled. Why would she be bought here to go back in time.

"I couldn't find another secured spot," Professor McGonagall confessed with an embarrassed smile.

"Originally we were planning for you to go to the Potter Mansion before going back, but, as I found out yesterday that place is overrun by death eaters. " She huffed a little bit.

"This is the next best place," She waved her hands at the building behind her, but her eyes stayed on the young woman in front of her.

Hermione's eyebrows pressed together as she stared at the windows that were apart of Sirius' house.

"How so?" She questioned, her expression showing disapproval. If she were going back in time, she did not want to be caught by Sirius' mother, notorious for screaming the house down. She could only imagine her in real life.

"You want to be in a place where someone from the wizarding world will find you. And I am certain that Sirius Black often climbed down that ladder, and spent some of his holidays down here." McGonagall gestured around them to the alley way.

"But why wouldn't we go inside, then?"

"We don't want to risk Walburga or Orion seeing you appear out of thin air. You would be in a lot of trouble." The older woman gave a soft sigh, before placing her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I must leave. Kingsley is expecting me back to tell the order what you're doing. Although I highly doubt that I will even make it in time before you alter the future." She gave a small laugh, but it wasn't a happy one.

Hermione smiled sadly, and gave the woman a hesitant hug. "I suppose I'll see you again…you just won't know who I am," She said softly.

"Eventually, I might. Then you can tell me all about how I was your favorite teacher." The Professor pulled away and smiled at the young girl. She stepped back, pulling out her wand.

"Goodbye, Hermione." She said softly.

"Goodbye, Minerva." Hermione breathed, backing up until she was standing against the wall. She watched the other woman dissaperate away with a crack, and Hermione closed her eyes, pressing herself against the wall. She stood there for a minute or two like that, hugging the jewellery box to her chest. She then slid down the wall, till she was sitting on the ground.

"You can do this," She breathed to herself as she opened the box. "For Harry, for Ron, for everyone you've ever known. You can change it, so they'll never have to see a death eater. Never have to have someone they love die."

Her fingers dipped into the box, and she pulled out a small vial filled with brown, chucky liquid. It reminded her of polyjuice potion, in the way where it made her feel sick to her stomach, just looking at it. It looked more like a stew than a potion.

"Bottoms up," She muttered to herself as she popped off the cap and tilted her head back, pouring it into her mouth. She had to hold her hand over her mouth as she fought hard not to throw up. When she was sure she had it down, she set the vial on the ground beside her.

Instantly she could feel her body start to tingle, and then she felt intense, stabbing pain in her bones as they started shrinking. She bit down on her fingers hard, stifling a cry of pain as it started. When it finished she gingerly lifted a hand to her face, touching her chubby thirteen year old cheeks, and her teeth that were slightly too long for her. Just when she had been starting to look average, they turned her back into an ugly duckling.

With a sigh she picked up the time turner and placed it around her neck. In the bottom of the chest was two small pieces of parchment. One said nothing but _56 turns should do it_. McGonagall must have charmed it for long distance travel. The other was a small note written in Dumbledore's handwriting, to give to Dumbledore when she got to Hogwarts. She would need to enlist him for help on her mission

With a deep breath, she started turning the time turner, her eyes glued to the grains of sand as they tumbled around in the time turner. _One, two, three, four…_

It seemed to take forever to reach fifty six. Maybe it was just because her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears. When she reached 53 there was a loud crack, and Ron appeared at the end of the alley way.

"_Hermione! No!" _He shouted as he sprinted down the alley way towards her.

Hermione lifted her head as she turned the time turner for the 56th time, meeting Ron's eyes.

"_No! Take it off!" _He shouted frantically. But it was too late. Hermione's body disappeared before his eyes.

Hermione looked around her as the alley around her stopped blurring, biting her lip. It didn't look much different, except that instead of the dumpster being across the alleyway it was under the ladder that lead up the wall to Sirius and Regulus' bedrooms. She figured that Sirius had pushed it there, seeing as there was a little bit of a distance from the bottom of the ladder till the ground. It would be easier to sit on the lid of the dumpster then slide off rather than jump straight from the bottom of the ladder to the ground.

She pulled the time turner from around her neck and put it in the box, before shrinking it down to the side of the palm of her hand and putting it in her pocket. She frowned a little bit when she felt something drop on her head, and looked up at the sky. She couldn't see anything clearly. It was getting dark. But then another dropped on her head, and more fell around her. It was starting to rain. She sighed to herself and huddled closer to the smelly dumpster, wrapping her arms around her knees.

Within minutes she was shivering beside the dumpster, rain splattering her legs. Luckily, behind beside the dumpster and being so close to the wall of the building, she was mostly sheltered from the rain. But still, within ten minutes she was soaked. She looked up at the wall desperately, looking for the window. Would Sirius even show up that night? Was he away? Staying at the Potter's, perhaps? She would have to seek shelter elsewhere if he didn't turn up soon.

Soon enough, 10 minutes later she heard a window open and shouting was heard echoing down the alleyway.

"Piss off, you old hag!"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK YOU GET BACK DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT! DINNER WILL BE READY IN TEN MINUTES, AND I EXPECT YOU TO SET THE TABLE!"

Hermione cringed hearing the voices. She definitely recognised one of them. Walburga's voice sounded the same as when she'd heard the portrait version screaming the house down. And the other voice…well, Hermione could only assume that was Sirius.

Sirius muttered a few choice words about his mother as he climbed out the window into the rain and started his way down the ladder towards the bottom. She merely stared at him as he jumped onto the dumpster, then slid off onto the ground of the alleyway.

"Stupid witch," Hermione heard him mutter as he turned towards where she was sitting, then he froze.

Hermione sat there huddled up in a ball, her nest of curls sopping wet and stuck to her cheeks, and her wand clenched in her hands. As she took him in, she knew for sure that this was Sirius Black at 13 years old. His hair was dark and wavy and it fell to his shoulders uncut, his light eyes piercing as they stared at her. His cheeks still had a little puppy fat on them, but the rest of his body was skinny and seemed to be stretched. His body seemed far too long for his 13 year old face. Hermione had never known anyone at that age that was that tall. But, Sirius had been rather tall in the time she had known him as an adult, so she could only guess that he was going through a one of the many growing spurts to come.

"Are you alright there?" He asked, bending down in front of Hermione and reaching to touch her hand.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn't speak through the chattering of her teeth.

"Shit, you're freezing," He muttered to himself, standing up again and slipping out of his jacket. He offered it to her, then at second through placed it on top of the dumpster and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, you're going to catch your death out here," He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders, and then looked at her.

"If my mother asks, you're pureblood, alright?" He stated as he started leading her out of the alley, and towards his front door. It was obvious that he couldn't care less what her bloodstatus was. "Because, to be quite frank…she'd have you thrown out onto the street as soon as looking at you if you were anything otherwise." He shook his head, sneering at his parents' pureblood mania.

That was more like the Sirius she had come to know. Hermione nodded as he led her around the block and straight to the front door, opening the door to Grimmauld place without knocking.

"Kreacher! Run a bath!" he yelled as he shut the door behind him, then started leading Hermione down the corridor.

"IT'S ALMOST DINNER TIME! YOU WILL NOT BE HAVING A BATH! YOU'LL BE GETTING YOUR UNGRATEFUL BACKSIDE DOWN TO THE KITCHEN THIS INSTANT!" Walburga Black could have been heard from the other side of the country. She marched up the stairs, and froze when she saw him holding Hermione close.

"Who gave you the impression that we would be allowing you to have guests on this unpleasant evening?" She sniffed as she looked at the young girl up and down, turning her nose up at the sight of her.

"Calm yourself, Walburga, look at the poor thing." Orion Black strolled down the stairs and took one look at the girl, before calling for his house elf.

"Kreacher! Run a bath!" He repeated his sons words, but this time the house elf actually listened. Water could be heard running upstairs.

"She's frozen, mother. And confused. She hasn't spoken a word since I saw her. I think she must have hit her head on something." Sirius stated, raising his chin as he looked his mother right in the eyes and lied to her face. "The least we could do is offer her a warm bath and something dry. And perhaps a place to stay for the night."

Walburga sneered a little bit, then screamed, "Kreacher!"

Kreacher appeared beside his mistress with a loud crack. "Yes, Mistress?" He asked.

"Take this girl up to the bathroom, and fetch her some dry clothes and a towel." He narrowed her eyes, looking at her son as he raised his chin defiantly. "And prepare one of the spare bedrooms." She said, before turning and sweeping back down to the kitchen.

Orion followed her lead smoothly, and Sirius was forced to follow her as she screamed for him to come have dinner.

Kreacher muttered, "Come, Kreacher has prepared a bath for Master Sirius' friend," as he walked up the stairs, and Hermione was forced to follow. This was not what she thought would happen.


	3. A Black?

Hermione's head snapped up as she heard the heavy door creak open across the room. She gave a loud sniff and wiped her nose on her jumper, not even bothered at how unattractive it was. Her fingers darted across her eyes and her cheeks, wanting to clear her tears, and when a head of shaggy hair and long legs wandered inside. Obviously Hermione had not been as quiet in her sobbing as she'd thought she had been. It had been, all in all, a very strange and upsetting night for her.

"_Here, these should do," Walburga Black declared as she marched into the bathroom, her back straight and her head held high. It seemed that the woman had no shame, walking into the bathroom while the young girl stood completely naked whilst drying herself. Hermione stifled a little squeak as the woman strode inside, turning her back to hide herself. Walburga held up the pair of green satin pajamas she was permitting Hermione to borrow, sniffing in distaste. She didn't often hand out her clothes for people to borrow, especially to homeless girls her least favourite son found on the street. But, as her husband had said multiple times over dinner whilst his wife and youngest son detested the girls presence, it would be impolite and rude of them to turn the girl away when they had a hot bath and warm bed for the girl. _

"_Well, don't just stand there!" Walburga snapped. Hermione was momentarily transported back to the first time she had heard that awful screeching in Grimmauld place. Merlin, had she gotten a fright when the portrait had started squawking insults at her. As she turned around, her arms slacking by her sides, she took in the woman's appearance. She didn't look much different to the panting that hung on the wall back in her timeline. She was tall and slender, with a pretty heart shaped face. Her cheekbones were prominent and rosy red; it seemed that even in her own family's company she made an effort to look her best. Her nose was upturned just slightly, a trait that none of her sons had inherited. Her hair hung in waves to her shoulders, and it seemed her creases from screaming nonstop hadn't begun to set into her face yet. _

_Hermione ever so slowly began to dress in front of the woman when she realized that she wasn't going to leave and she was expected to change in front of her. First she pulled in the trousers, which were far too loose for her around the waist. Being only thirteen, Hermione didn't exactly have any curves to fill out the older woman's clothes. When she was older she wasn't much better, having only small breasts, but at least she had decent hips. _

_Walburga sniffed as she bent to grab the loose pajama bottoms, giving the draw strings a rough tug before tying them tightly. "That should do," She muttered. _

_Hermione hurriedly pulled the pajama top on over her bare chest, and Walburga began to do the buttons up. It was far too big on the young girl, especially around the chest area. The older woman pulled back and looked at the girl for a moment, her arms crossed across her chest. "Kreacher will bring you up some dinner in a minute. Your bedroom is down the hall to the left." She stated, before walking out the door, leaving Hermione alone. _

"Are you…okay?" Sirius asked a little awkwardly as he looked at the young girl curled up on her bed. He'd never heard a girl cry in his thirteen years, not his mother, or his cousins. He'd been raised to believe that Black's, no matter their gender, did not cry. Sirius didn't hold the same views as his parents, of course. He couldn't give a flying fart about what they thought a Black should do. But he had never seen a woman cry in his life, so you can imagine his discomfort seeing Hermione with tears drizzling down her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just…" Hermione gestured to the open book lying beside her. She had been reading when she'd fallen into another fit of sobs. It seemed she could never run out of tears. She'd cried herself to sleep that night, and had burst into a fit of tears again after waking up. She yearned for her mother and her father, who had still been obliviated and living in Australia when she had left. She yearned for Ron, for Ginny, for all her friends in the Order. For someone familiar. She longed for Harry. _Oh, Harry…_just the thought of him made Hermione's eyes brim with tears again. Harry had given up everything for the rest of the wizarding world; he'd lost his life trying to save them all from the same horrid fate. But she'd make sure he never died in this time. She would save him.

"You know…whatever happened to you, I want to help." Sirius said as he sunk down onto the bed beside her. His voice was soft, sincere. Hermione had never heard him speak like that as an adult. But she was sure he would have when speaking of James and Lily, when speaking to Harry. Hermione looked at Sirius and wiped her eyes again, glancing up at him.

"I don't even know your name," He stated matter-of-factly, and gave her a pointed look as he waited for it.

"Hermione," Hermione replied softly. "And you?"

"Sirius Black," The boy flashed her a smile full of perfectly straight pearly white teeth. Hermione thought of her own teeth which were slightly too long and bit her lip a little. "What's your last name?" He asked her, lounging back on the bed. Hermione had been thinking the night earlier while she had been trying to sleep in the unfamiliar bedroom. She supposed that the bed path to take if someone questioned her of her past as to say that she didn't remember. She remembered in history of magic that back when the war was just starting to brew that Death Eaters often raided houses and killed people, but they also obliviated the odd person and left them wandering around no memory of who they really were. And so, Hermione would play the confused war victim.

"Um…I'm not actually sure..." She said slowly, glancing down at her hands, before looking back up at Sirius. The widening of his eyes confirmed that she had been successful in trying to portray a girl with amnesia.

"How did you end up out the back yesterday? Do you remember?"

Hermione gave a slow shake of her head, her eyes going back to her hands. "The first thing I remember I was sitting in the rain beside the dumpster. I don't remember anything before that." She said quietly.

Sirius chewed on his lip a little bit. He never had been the nervous type. He was outgoing, confident, and very cocky for a thirteen year old. But he was nervous for the girl. If she had no recollection of how she ended up outside Grimmauld, and she didn't know her last name…she could be a victim of the Death Eaters. Obviously she was muggleborn, he could tell from the moment he'd met her, in her jeans and knitted sweater. He'd been raised to spot that sort of thing from first glace. Then again, these days even pureblood children were starting to wear muggle attire. He supposed that was why his parents had believed him when he had delivered the news that she was a pureblood to his parents that night.

If she had had her memory wiped…her family was probably dead. And if they were…she'd be thrown into an orphanage. That wasn't any fair, being chucked in there. It was bad enough she'd lost her memory, but having to grow up in a place where she would get no love? No. He would not have it.

"So…you don't remember any family, do you?" He asked her. Again, Hermione slowly shook her head.

"I don't remember anybody." She said glumly.

Sirius' face slumped into a sad frown. "It'll be alright; maybe someone will come forward for you." He tried to sound supportive, but his voice just sounded sad. "Or maybe…maybe you could stay here? I could convince my Dad to adopt you!"

Hermione's eyes widened at his words and she looked up at him sharply. Sirius laughed at her expression. He could tell exactly what she was thinking. "It's not all bad here, you know. Mother's…well mother's a complete hag, as you probably already know. And Regulus is an idiot." He scrunched his nose up at the mention of his two least favourite people. "Dad's not around that often. He works a lot. He's only home on weekends, and at evenings…and er…" He spotted the book she was reading. "If you like books we have a whole library!"

Hermione just kind of stared at him. No. No way in merlin did she want to be a part of the Black family, to be forced into pureblood traditions. Sirius was kind enough, but the others? She'd only met them once in person, but she'd heard enough from Sirius in the future that she had already made up her mind.

"That's really sweet, but-"

Sirius wasn't even listening to her. "I should probably leave you to get dressed. Breakfast will be ready soon." He stood up. "Just come down in what you had on yesterday, it should be dry by now." He nodded towards the fireplace on the other side of the room.

"And I'll talk to Dad," He gave Hermione a small smile, before backing towards the door. "I promise, it's not all bad around here…you'll see."


	4. Harry's Look Alike

A/N Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me so far! I recently got a review that said that while this was written well some parts do sound like TLM. I just wanted to clear up that I am trying very hard not to have it sound like other Back in time fan-fics, but there are a lot of them out there so I'm not really sure how that will end up going! TLM is actually my favourite fan-fiction, and after reading over it I admit some parts are similar already, to which I apologise for. But, I do have some completely different ideas for this story! I've been working hard on my ideas and jotting them down to make them different, so stay tuned for them! :)

Hermione tried her hardest not to gulp under the hard stare of the older woman sitting across from her. Walburga Black was truly terrifying in all forms, even more so when she was just glowering at you from across the table. Hermione much preferred it when she was a screaming portrait in her old timeline. She didn't know what it was about her that made her so terrified of the woman. Maybe it was her hard eyes, the way they pierced her own gaze made it seem as if she was looking right into her soul, seeing her deepest and darkest secrets. Or maybe it was the way the woman resembled her niece. The portrait of her didn't resemble her much, being as Walburga was much older then. But being a bit younger at the present time, the woman's dark eyes, cold stare and nest of raven hair reminded Hermione of the woman who had tortured her on the cold floor of Malfoy Mannor. Bellatrix Black was one of the things Hermione feared the most. There hadn't been a night when she'd woken up drenched in cold sweat since that dreadful night.

"If you cannot remember family of any sort, or how you arrived at Grimmauld Place, how can you be so sure that you are a pureblood?" Walburga asked in an accusing tone, her obsidian eyes narrowed as she watched Hermione's face for any signs of a lie.

Hermione mentally gulped, her eyes rising to meet the other woman's. "Well," she began, trying to make her voice sound confident. "I do believe that it is something one would never forget, even under such horrible circumstances." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sirius's lips twitch into a little smile. That was the only sign that let her know she had sounded truthful.

Walburga sneered a little bit at Hermione, before her gaze lifted from the young girl and went to her husband, who was pursing his lips just a little bit in thought. He seemed to be one of those people who thought everything through before speaking. He was quite tame, really, especially compared to Walburga. But it was clear who held the authority in the family. Regulus and Walburga looked to the man for his opinion on everything, but it was clear that Sirius didn't give any thought to what his father's judgment was.

Sirius didn't look much like his parents, although he did inherit some obvious traits from his father. The two Black children seemed to have inherited their fathers grey eyes, and his long nose, but otherwise there was nothing about them that looked like Orion. Orion was quite a tall man – another trait which Sirius had seemed to inherit – with a long face and long crooked nose—it looked like it had been broken at some point in his life. He was quite skinny in the face, but when he stood you could see his belly sticking out over the top of his dress trousers, which his shirt was tucked into. His hair was a lighter brown and was cut short. It seemed that both Sirius and Regulus had inherited their mother's black curls.

"Well, I believe that is quite true," He said slowly, his eyes glued with his wife's. "I do not believe that it is remotely possible for anyone to forget their bloodstatus, even under such atrocious circumstances."

Walburga huffed, at her husband's response, a rather uncanny impression of a horse. "Orion, you don't know that. She could be lying! And no doubt that bastard child is playing along with it!" She hissed at him.

"Walburga," Orion barked her name, his calm composure breaking as he banged his fist on the table. His eyes burned into hers and his face morphed as his anger showed through. Obviously he had a bit of a temper. He leaned back in his chair and smoothed down his front, letting out a small breath.

Walburga sat back in her seat, falling quiet at her husbands' shouting. Her cheeks flamed red for a moment as she stared at him. She obviously didn't like being shouted at, and was embarrassed about him having done so in front of the children.

"She's a child. Just a child. She can't be any older than Sirius or Regulus." He said in an undertone to her.

Walburga pinched her lips together tightly and glanced over at Hermione. Hermione, by this time, was feeling incredibly awkward by their conversation.

"She appeared on our doorstep, and it is only right that we take her to the ministry to see if anyone is looking for her." Orion spoke slowly to his wife, but his words left a different taste in the air. It was obvious that he didn't think anyone would come forward to claim the young girl sitting across from them at the table. After all, he had checked the Daily Prophet almost as soon as she arrived, and there was nobody in the missing persons section with her name or description.

Walburga sniffed in distaste and pushed her porridge around in her breakfast bowl, looking down her nose at it. "I suppose it is our responsibility," was all she said on the matter.

"Then it's settled. We'll take her in after lunch." He said with a nod, and started eating his breakfast again.

"Dad?" Sirius spoke from beside Hermione, putting his spoon down once he was finished his porridge. He clearly hadn't been bothered by the conversation before. Hermione had barely touched her breakfast. "Do you remember what we discussed earlier?" He raised his chin indignantly, his eyes meeting his fathers as Orion raised his head again.

It took him a moment to respond, staring into his sons eyes, who never looked away. "I remember," He spoke slowly, his eyes twitching to Hermione's for an instant. "I will discuss it again later; with your mother." He said simply, taking a sip from his water goblet.

Eying his sons plates he waved his hand at them. "You are dismissed." He then looked at Hermione. "As are you, if you are finished?" He asked her.

Hermione gave a small nod, placing her spoon down. "Thank you for breakfast. It was lovely." She murmured as she stood up, followed quickly by Sirius.

Walburga and Orion said nothing, just went about their business eating their own breakfast. Hermione took this as her cue to leave.

Hermione jumped slightly as she heard the voice pierced the silence of the house, looking up from the book she had been reading. She had found the book on the bedside table, and she figured no harm would come to her borrowing it. It had been a few hours since they'd come back from the ministry, and Walburga, Orion and Sirius had been at each other's throats since the moment they'd stepped out of the fireplace. About what? About Hermione becoming a Black.

"NO! I WILL NOT HAVE IT!" Walburga shrieked. Hermione could hear her voice loud and clear from upstairs as if she were standing right next to her, and she shrunk back a little against the headboard of her bed, biting her lip. She reminded her so much of Bellatrix in the moment, the way she screeched at her husband upstairs. Hermione already knew that the women had no shame, from the bathroom incident the night before. But in that moment Hermione knew that Walburga Black was almost as terrifying as Bellatrix.

"I DO NOT WISH TO HAVE HER IN MY HOUSE! I DETEST IT! SHE COULD BE FILTHY! SHE WAS FOUND IN THE STREET!"

"SHE HAS NOWHERE ELSE TO GO, WALBURGA! SHE'S A CHILD; SHE BARELY LOOKS TO BE SIRIUS' AGE!"

Hermione took it back. The only thing more terrifying that Walburga was Orion. His deep voice thundered through the house and Hermione was sure she felt the floor and the walls shake.

"I DON'T CARE! I WILL NOT HAVE REGULUS GROWING UP AROUND HER WHEN SHE COULD BE SCUM!" Walburga screamed back at her husband.

The argument seemed to go in forever, the two screaming at each other. Surely one would give into the other soon? It seemed that Sirius had learned his wide range of vocabulary from his mother, as every second word that escaped from her mouth seemed to be some kind of curse word.

Hermione jumped when the door across the room banged open, expecting Walburga or Orion to stomp into the room. It sounded like they were right outside the room, from how loud they were shouting. But it was only Sirius, and he was carrying a trunk behind him.

"No time to talk. Just come on," He waved a hand at Hermione. "It's best to leave when they're screaming at each other. That way they can't stop us. It's not like they care, anyway." He rolled his eyes.

"Um…where are we going?" Hermione asked quietly as she stood from her spot on the bed and strode over to him.

"My mate's house." He stated with a small shrug, turning on his heel and marching down the stairs, Hermione close on his heels. "Term starts in a week. And I'd rather be at Mr. and Mrs. Potter's for the rest of the week anyway, that way me and James get to go to the train stations together." He walked into his mother parlour on the landing and bent to pick up the pot of floo powder by the fireplace.

Hermione tried her hardest to look oblivious to what he was talking about as she stood beside him, but him speaking about Hogwarts starting made her heart jump. Would she ever get to go back there? The thought of being back at Hogwarts made her heart swell with sadness- what would it be like without Harry and Ron. Sirius caught her confused look and gave a small smile. "Hogwarts is a school." He explained, shoving his trunk in the fireplace before clambering in beside it.

"Well, come on then." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the fireplace beside him. It was cramped, but Sirius wasn't going to leave her behind, and he had no idea if she even knew how to floo.

"Potter Mansion!" He cried loudly as he threw the floo powder to the floor. They were infulged in green flames and then they were gone from Grimmauld place.

Hermione and Sirius fell on a heap on the floor, coughing and spluttering after their fall from the fireplace. Hermione didn't like floo traveling at all, she much preferred apperation, but that wasn't possible while she was underage. Almost as soon as they hit the floor, footsteps thundered above them.

"Oi! You're dirtying my mother's carpet!" Hermione looked up through her nest of brown curls and gaped at what she saw. It was almost the splitting image of Harry, except his nose was slightly longer, and his glasses were rectangle, not round. He looked so similar to her best friend that she opened her mouth to crow his name in delight, but she closed it abruptly when she realized it wasn't him.

Sirius got up from the floor and laughed happily, throwing his arms around the other boy.

"So you got away from the monsters, eh?" James laughed and hugged his friend tightly, and then pulled away from him. His eyes found Hermione lying on a heap on the floor and he looked at Sirius quizzically.

"I don't think mum would think it very appropriate that you bought your latest snog buddy along."

Sirius rolled his eyes and bent to help Hermione up.

"James, Hermione, Hermione, James." He introduced quickly, brushing a finger over Hermione's cheek without any thought, wiping off some soot from her skin.

"And who is Hermione, exactly?" James asked, although he did give her a polite nod in greeting. Hermione stood awkwardly with her arms around herself.

"Hermione is a girl in desperate need of a place to stay. Mum wanted to chuck her in an orphanage." He scoffed at what his mother had wanted to do and shook his head.

"It's ridiculous, really. It's bad enough that she's lost her memories! She needs a loving home, not a nunnery." He looked over at Hermione.

"Don't be scared. Mrs. Potter's an angel, she's sure to look after you until we can find you a place to stay." He said, placing an arm around her shoulder. She looked frightened, but really she was just in awe over how much James looked like Harry.

"Plus, she's the best cook!" Sirius grinned and started to lead her from the room. Hermione merely nodded, still staring at James. Merlin, she missed Harry.


	5. Getting to know Mrs Potter

_**A/N Sorry about how long it took to update, I'm getting ready to go overseas! 8 days until I go on holiday for 3 weeks! So I might not be able to update until I get back, but I will try to update before I leave!**_

"I can't believe that woman. She's absolutely horrid," Dorea Potter muttered as her hands worked on Hermione's wet hair, pulling it into a French braid at the back of her head. Hermione had been sitting silently the whole time that she had been doing her hair- which was a long time, as Hermione had a lot of hair- and she had discovered that like Walburga, Dorea was the one out of her and her husband that did most of the talking, and was very open about everything. She'd just about talked her ear off about all sorts of things, but she seemed to mostly go on about the past, and how much she hated the Black's. She liked having another female in the house, someone to tell her stories too, and someone to be girly with.

Evidently, it turned out that Dorea had been a part of the Black family before she'd married Charlus Potter, much to her parent's dismay. As a child she'd strived to impress her parents, agreeing with their pureblood mania. But during her school years she'd fallen into a friendship with a particular Gryffindor boy who was tutoring her in charms, and her views had changed. Charlus Potter was 2 years older than Dorea, but he hadn't hesitated to offer himself as a tutor to the younger Slytherin girl, whom he'd developed a crush on in his 5th year. Being a cocky and jealous boy, he had even hexed the people who had offered to tutor her, so he definitely got the spot.

At first she had hated being around him, but within weeks of their study dates they were beginning to fall into a friendship, and surprising to their rivaling families and Hogwarts houses, within a few months they began to date. Dorea made friends with pureblood and muggleborns alike, and for a while it had seemed that she got on with Gryffindors better than Slytherins. When Dorea graduated the two moved in together, but they didn't marry for 5 or 6 years. James was born another 5 years after that, as the couple had had issues with conception.

"I'm ashamed to call her my cousin. She's truly terrible, talking about throwing a child out onto the street when she's clearly got nowhere to go." Dorea shook her head and smoothed her hand over Hermione's hair as she wound the hair tie around the bottom of Hermione's braid, before leaning back to observe her work. It had been a long time since she'd done a braid on someone other than herself. She was out of practice, so it looked a bit messy. She pursed her lips and fiddled with it a bit more before giving a small sigh.

"That's the best I can do, sorry, dear." She gave a small smile and rose from the bed where she had been sitting behind Hermione.

Hermione turned to look at her reflection, running a hand over the braid. "It's beautiful. Thank you. My hair is so hard to handle." She laughed softly as she eyed the frizz splaying out of the braid, before turning back to Mrs. Potter.

"You're welcome, dear. I haven't done someone else's hair in at least 20 years, except for Charlus' of course. I have to keep his trimmed, or it ends up looking like James'." She chuckled, and Hermione joined her in laughing. Hermione had only seen James twice; when she'd first met him and during dinner, but both times he had resembled a porcupine, with his dark hair sticking up on end. He reminded her so much of Harry, they looked so much alike.

"James won't let me touch his hair. He says that's how he gets all the girls." The older woman rolled her eyes, before turning and picking up a small bundle of material from the chest at the base of the bed.

"Here, you can borrow this to sleep in, until we get you your own clothes." She smiled warmly at Hermione as she reached to take the night gown from her hands. "It'll probably be quite big on you, but it's only for a couple of nights."

Hermione's heart swelled warmly as she looked at Mrs. Potter. James' mother had showed Hermione an awful lot of care and love in the few hours she'd known her, and it warmed Hermione's heart to know that the woman was willing to take care of her until she found a family for her. She reminded her of her own mother in the way she was like that, so caring. She hardly knew anything about her but she was willing to let her sleep in her house and wear her old clothes, the opposite of Walburga, who had thrown a fit at the sight of her.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Potter. I'm so grateful for your generosity." Hermione breathed as she held the night gown close to her chest.

"There's no need to thank me, dear." Mrs. Potter smiled and leaned to press a kiss to the crown of her head. "It's always nice to have another girl in the house." She'd always wanted a daughter, although she'd never been able to have any children other than James.

Hermione leaned into Mrs. Potter for a moment, her eyes sliding closed. She knew it wouldn't be so bad here, with a loving couple looking after her until they found a family for her. And she could even get close to Sirius and James in the next few weeks, something her task required her to do.

"Now, you're welcome to come down once you're dressed. We'll have hot chocolate, and I'm sure the boys will goof around, as usual." Mrs. Potter laughed as she pulled away, moving to turn down the top of Hermione's bed covers down.

"Last year, when Sirius came for Christmas, the first night they were together they broke all of my china plates; On accident of course." She shook her head at the memory and straightened up, putting her hands on her hips. "Thank god for magic." She smiled and brushed a hand over her dark curls, which were starting to go grey.

"I think I might just go to sleep tonight. It's been a long day." Hermione smiled a little bit, holding the night gown to her chest. That was a bit of an understatement. Spending the morning at the ministry, pretending to be a pureblood girl with amnesia, all the while Walburga was breathing down her neck for any sign of someone muggle like. The last time she'd been in the Ministry of Magic she'd been with Harry and Ron, and they'd ended up getting chased by Yaxley and almost getting killed. You can imagine how paranoid she was that someone would jump out of the shadows and recognise her.

"Have a good sleep, dear. Charlus and I sleep down the hall, and James and Sirius sleep down stairs, if you need someone" She placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder, a warm smile on her face.

"Goodnight," Hermione breathed, watching the woman walk away, the door closing behind her.

That night, Hermione slept easily, at peace in the Potter Mansion, full of people she trusted, even though she'd only just met them.


	6. Making Friends

_**A/N Hello again! I'm officially back from my holiday! Sorry about how it's been since I updated, but didn't have any time while I was overseas. It was a very hectic three weeks! But over all my trip was awesome and it was definitely the trip of a lifetime. Enjoy the chapter, and thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, favouriting and following!**_

Both Sirius and James' eyes flicked to the mop of curly brown hair across the table from them as they ate their breakfast; scrambled eggs on toast, mashed potato, sausages and strips of bacon, a tradition in the Potter household on a Saturday morning. Hermione was certainly different to any of the girls their age. Sitting there in her borrowed nightie, her hair giving quite the uncanny impression of a birds nest as she ate slowly, as if her mind was in another world. The other girls James and Sirius' age would be gossiping and giggling over their breakfast, not staring into space, scrambled eggs and drool falling out the side of her mouth when she opened her while chewing. Alright, that never happened. But James gave a wee snigger as he thought about that happening.

Hermione had been a resident in the Potter Mansion for 4 nights now, so seeing the brunette sitting across from them at the table wasn't exactly a new thing, they were both slowly getting used to it. In fact, neither of the boys would be bothered by her far off expression at all – she often drifted into a dream world when nobody was talking, or the boys were stuffing their faces. Sirius guessed she was trying to recollect her memories. He would certainly be trying if he'd had his taken from him – if it wasn't for the screaming they'd heard coming from her bedroom the night before.

"Are you alright, Dear?"

Hermione gave a little shake of her head as she was pulled out of her trance and glanced over at Mrs. Potter, and her lips curved into a small smile. "Sorry, I was…thinking." She set her knife and fork down together on her plate, leaning back a little in her chair to show she was finished with her breakfast.

"About your family?" James interjected quickly, leaning forward slightly as he anticipated her answer. But he didn't get an answer. The only thing he got was an abrupt jab in the ribs from Sirius' elbow.

"Ouch!" James groaned and quickly lifted a hand to rub his ribs. His eyes narrowed at his friend, and he quickly threw his foot out, kicking Sirius in the shin.

"Oi!" Sirius bellowed, slamming his fork down on the table. The two locked eyes, their jaws tight and their fists clenched.

"Boys," Mrs. Potter warned sharply, and the boys fell silent, turning and staring at their plates.

Hermione avoided her eyes from everyone else at the table, wringing her hands awkwardly.

Mrs. Potter didn't give the boys a second glance, going back to her breakfast. She knew that neither of the boys would restart the fight, or they would face Mrs. Potter's wrath. And that was definitely not something they wanted to experience. The ex Slytherin definitely had a bit of Black in her.

It took a few minutes before James had enough nerve to look his mother in the eye and mutter, "May I be excused?" What can you say? The boy may be a Gryffindor, but even as a 13 year old; women were the scariest things on the planet, especially mad mothers.

Mrs. Potter smiled at her son and nodded, setting her own knife and fork down. "Be quick at getting dressed. Your father and I need to go to the ministry on business, and we thought you and Sirius could perhaps take Hermione to Diagon Alley while we were there. Perhaps get some school supplies?"

All three children looked at the older woman, their eyes swimming with questions.

"School supplies? For Hermione?" James queried hesitantly.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes just slightly before replying, "Yes, James. Sometimes adoptions can…take some time." She tried to say it lightly, but they all knew what they meant. Who knew if she would ever be adopted? Sometimes people went their entire childhood in the foster-care system.

"But," she continued quickly, turning her smile on Hermione. "Every witch should be well equipped with a wand, and I'll be dammed if Hermione isn't going to be well trained just like every other young woman in the wizarding world."

Hermione couldn't help the grin that was plastered to her face as she slowly made her way throughout the aisles of her favourite store in Diagon Alley. Flourish and Blott's hadn't changed at all since she was last here – or it wouldn't change in the next eighteen years before Hermione would walk into the shop for the first time – well, except for some of the books on the shelves. Her fingers skimmed over the hard spines of the books on the highest shelf she could reach as she strolled through the maze of aisles, dust clinging to her fingers as she made her way towards the least popular aisles. But these aisles were her favourite- muggle novels, and a whole range of text books about all things magical.

"Where are you?" She muttered quietly to herself as her eyes trailed over all the books, looking for a particular book that she loved to read over and over. Her grin grew even wider as she reached for it, low on the shelf in front of her. _Hogwarts A History by Bathilda Bagshot_. Hermione never got tired of reading this particular book, and had spent the previous day searching for it in Mr. Potter's library. If it had been there, Hermione hadn't found it. But now she could have her own copy to read whenever she liked. Her eyes flitted over the words she could almost recite from memory, and Hermione being Hermione, began to walk towards where she knew the few seats in the store were, with her nose in the musky book. She had only taken a few steps before she slammed into a wall of pudgy meatballs, and was met with a loud squeak.

"Merlin, I'm sorry!" Hermione gushed as the book fell from her hands to the floor with a loud thud and she looked downwards, right into the wide and terrified eyes of a chubby, blonde rat. The boy seemed to shiver slightly as Hermione looked down at him, his round cheeks a rather bright shade of red.

Hermione's own cheeks were a little red, embarrassed that she hadn't been paying attention to where she had been going.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly, resisting the urge to bend down and touch his shoulder, as if he were a child much younger than she.

Before the boy could answer, a quiet voice spoke from behind the both of them.

"Are you alright, Peter?"

Hermione's body went cold, and her throat ran dry. _Peter. _Looking at the small boy again, she saw it. The small boy, chubby and shaking, his eyes squinty and swimming with fear. His long teeth cut into his upper lip nervously. It was definitely Peter Pettigrew. Her stomach flipped, and she struggled not to throw up on him then and there. Pettigrew! He betrayed Harry's parents! He's the reason that Harry grew up with his aunt and uncle, who never treated him like he was love. But she would change that. She would change everything.

"I'm okay." Peter gave a little squeak and turned away from Hermione to face the boy approaching them. Hermione too turned to look at the boy, and almost smiled when she saw who it was.

Standing behind them was a long limbed boy with standing with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched forward slightly in a way that said that he was a shy boy, who didn't like to be the centre of attention. With his sandy hair that fell messily onto his forehead and his kind eyes that looked at Peter, concerned for his friend, there was no doubt that this was Remus John Lupin standing before her, her future defence against the dark arts professor.

"I wasn't watching where I was going," Hermione admitted quietly as she scooped up her book and gave first Remus, then Peter an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry for banging into you." She tried to make her smile a little wider, but it was a little hard when looking at her best friend's parents murderer.

"I'm Hermione, by the way." She held out her hand for Peter to shake, tucking _Hogwarts A History _under her other arm.

Peter's hand shook just slightly as he took Hermione's hand and shook it, muttering, "Peter Pettigrew."

"Pleasure," Hermione smiled at him and turned towards Remus, holding out her hand.

"Remus Lupin, it's nice to meet you." He said as he obliged her by shaking her hand.

"You aren't by any chance the Remus Lupin that Sirius Black and James Potter are both friends with?" She asked, cocking her head to the side just slightly.

Remus groaned a little bit, and his eyes crinkled sympathetically.

"Whatever they've done, I'm sorry. Sirius has a habit of harassing girls, and James, well, he just likes to monkey around."

Hermione laughed and shook her head automatically. "No, no, nothing like that. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if they did something like that…" She smiled at him softly. "I've heard them talk about you, is all."

Remus looked at her questioningly, his eyebrow raised just slightly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter have been kind enough to…take me in, for a little while." Was all she offered in explanation, her tight smile giving away the rest of her story. Both boys looked a little bit awkward at that, not knowing what to say to a girl who had lost her parents at such a young age.

"What're you reading?" Remus asked, trying to change the subject.

Hermione looked down at her book, "Oh, erm, Hogwarts A History," She said, holding it up for him to see.

"So you found it, then?" Hermione jumped at the sudden voice behind her and narrowed her eyes at Sirius.

"Sirius! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She chastised, tucking the book under her arm again.

"Yes, mother," Sirius rolled his eyes at her turned to Remus and Peter.

"Remus! Mate!" He grinned and hugged Remus quickly, giving him a small clap on the back, before turning to Peter to do the same, although he was quicker with Peter. James followed his actions. It seemed that neither of the two boys were as close with Peter as they were with Remus, and Hermione hoped that this would make her job a little easier. She needed to push Peter out of their reach.

The four boys were catching up, when Hermione widened her eyes a little bit.

"Sirius, is that a black eye?" She asked, her voice rising with worry as she reached out. She may have only known him a few days, but he and James had been nothing but kind to her since she'd arrived in the Potter Mansion. They seemed to already be accepting her as normality, and as was she accepting them as two people who she would become very close to- or so she hoped.

Sirius smacked her hand away, shaking his head. "It's fine, Hermione. Don't worry about it." He rolled his eyes slightly. Sirius had gained many black eyes in the last few years, it wasn't a shock to the other two boys. But it was a shock to Hermione.

"However did you get it?" She asked, prodding at it with her finger.

Sirius hissed out his mouth and smacked at her hand harder. "Honestly, Hermione!" He whined.

"It's not the first time he's been punched by a girl, Hermione." James sniggered a little bit and Sirius sent him a death glare.

"Oi! Shuttup, you wanker!"

"By a girl?" Hermione couldn't help but snort, throwing her head back. "Let me guess, you were harassing her?" she looked at Remus, who gave her a small, but friendly grin.

"Not at all! I just asked for her floo address!" Sirius argued, giving Hermione a playful push.

"Sirius, she was 22, and married!" James objected with a loud chortle.

Hermione snorted again. "Sirius, you sly dog!"

This ultimately earned a bigger push, into the shelf beside her.

Maybe her job wouldn't be so hard after all.


	7. One of the guys

Hermione took a deep breath before knocking on the door to Dumbledore's office, before taking a step back and wringing her hands together to stop them from shaking. She didn't know why she was so nervous- this was Dumbledore for Merlin's sake! He'd known her since she was eleven years old, watched her grow into a young woman and had watched her fight alongside Harry in the war. He'd allowed Harry to confide in her about all of the things he and Harry had talked about in their private lessons. And he was the one who had planned to send her back in time if anything had happened to Harry. He'd chosen her specifically for the job. Surely his younger self would believe her when she came to telling him her story. She should have got something from McGonagall to make sure that Dumbledore would believe her. What if he didn't? What if he threw her out? She would have to complete her mission herself...she may be smart, but she doubted that she would be able to take down Voldemort and a whole legion of death eaters by herself.

"Come in, Miss Potter. I've been expecting you," the all too familiar voice of Albus Dumbledore spoke from inside his office, using her new name.

As the Potter's were her foster parents of sorts, and she had no last name- that anyone knew of - it was agreed that Hermione would adopt their last name for the time being. One couldn't walk around with no last name. It would draw too much attention. So to everyone that wasn't James or Sirius - or Dumbledore, she hoped -she would be Hermione Potter. But to James and Sirius she was just Hermione.

Hermione glanced down for a moment as she felt something brush around her ankles, and couldn't help but smile to herself at the black and white fluff ball curling around her. When the Potter's had told her she could get a pet to take to school she had been planning on taking an owl. An owl would have been useful for sending secret messages to Dumbledore, or to anyone else who she had to communicate with along the way. Staying in touch with the boys, even. Over the last few weeks of the summer she had become friends with the three of them - not counting Peter, because obviously Hermione didn't like Peter. The other three boys could tell, but said nothing on the matter, as Peter was oblivious to her discomfort around him and they didn't want to hurt his feelings – and would want to keep in touch with Remus and Sirius during the holidays when they weren't together. But when Hermione had seen the adorable black and white cat in the window in Diagon Alley she'd just had to get it. She'd be lying if she said the cat wasn't rather funny looking, but then that was one of the reasons the cat stole her heart. He reminded her of Crookshanks, her old, brilliant cat that she had loved to pieces, but that Harry and Ron had hated. The black and white fur ball circling around her ankles had followed her around Potter Mansion since she'd bought him, and she wasn't at all surprised to see him now. She'd named him Boris on Mrs. Potter's recommendation, because according to her, "He just looks like a Boris."

"What are you doing here, huh?" Hermione asked, leaning down to pick up the fur ball and cradling him against her like a baby.

"Ouch, Boris!" She hissed as he dug his claws into her and climbed up over her shoulder before he jumped back to the floor. He did not like to be held, although he was usually quite affectionate as long as you didn't pick him up off the floor.

"Miss Potter?" Dumbledore queried as Hermione didn't open the door, instead watching Boris sit down on the top step and start bathing himself for a short moment.

Hermione shook her head at the cat, before turning back to the door and pushing it open. When inside she closed it behind herself and approached the headmaster's desk.

The man sitting behind the desk didn't look entirely different from her old headmaster. He looked a little younger, of course, with a few less wrinkles. His hair was still grey, but a little bit shorter, and his beard was also shorter and not tied in the middle. He sat straight in his desk with his hands entwined on his desk, and as he looked at the young, fluffy haired girl approaching his desk his eyes twinkled with a bit of mischief.

"Sit, sit," He urged the girl with a small smile.

Hermione took a seat and crossed her knees, then her ankles, leaning back in the chair slightly. She couldn't get comfortable. Maybe it was because she was about to spill her biggest secret, and she didn't even know if he would believe her.

"You said in your letter that this was urgent, Miss Potter. So we'll just get straight to the point: what have you come to speak to me about?"

Hermione took a deep breath and folded her own hands in her lap. Where to start? As she leaned forward she looked him straight in the eye and dove into the deep end.

"I'm from the future."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked at the young girl sitting before him, and he raised both of his eyebrows in question.

"Forgive me, Miss Potter, but it would not be wise of me to believe just anyone who tells me they are from the future." He said, his eyes still twinkling with glee.

"You sent me, Sir. I mean- Professor McGonagall did; on your orders." Hermione's lips turned down into a slight frown as she thought hard of how to convince him.

"Do you have any proof? A message to me, a secret code from my future self?"

Hermione's eyes darted down to her hands, and seeing her knuckles going white as she clenched them she let go and instead drummed her fingers on her knees. Proof? Professor McGonagall hadn't said anything about proof…she hadn't thought she would need any.

"Do you have anything that you bought with you from the future?" Dumbledore interrupted her deep thoughts, and Hermione snapped her gaze back up to meet his.

"I have…I have the time turner!"

Dumbledore's lips turned up into a small smile as Hermione reached under her top and pulled out the delicate gold chain, to which the time turner was attached too. She had kept the chain around her neck all summer, never once taking it off, not even to shower.

"It's Professor McGonagall's." She gushed as she took it from around her neck and handed it over to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore merely nodded as he took the necklace from her and peered down at the golden hoops. On the inside of the inner ring, sure enough, _McGonagall _was etched into the gold. And on the inside of the outer ring, 5 words were etched in Latin. _Protege puella. Haec est una._

_Protect the girl. She is the one._

That was all the proof Dumbledore needed. He glanced up at Hermione again, before moving to put the time turner into the top drawer in his desk.

"How old are you?" He asked.

Hermione almost sighed in relief when he relaxed in his desk chair. He believed her!

"Sir?" She asked, frowning just a little bit when he asked for her age.

"Forgive me, but I would never send a 13 year old to complete such a dangerous task." He gave her a small smile.

"I'm seventeen, Sir." She paused a moment, before speaking again. "And what exactly do you know of my task?"

Dumbledore nodded, and took a moment to think before speaking. "Miss Potter, I know not why you are here, but that it is of great importance. I have a few guesses to what your task is, but I think it would be best if we don't discuss it unless you need my help." He looked at her. "I assume that you have a plan?"

"Of sorts." Hermione nodded hesitantly.

"Then I should probably work on your cover." He looked at her. "Am I correct in assuming that you attended Hogwarts?"

Hermione nodded. "I was a Gryffindor, Sir."

"Then you will continue to be a Gryfifndor. And I will organize your timetable tonight. I will place you in advanced classes, as I assume you will know most of what we will be teaching" He gave her a small smile, before standing up. "Come, you should join your new class mates in the great hall. And I should probably be at the teachers table, ready to give my speech. It's a tradition, you know."

"I know, Sir." She chuckled, and the two made their way out the door and towards the great hall. Hermione wasn't surprised when Boris trailed behind them.

James and Sirius cheered loudly, banging both of their fists on the table as the last first year to be sorted took a seat at the very end of the Gryffindor table, blushing red to the roots of her hair. The two boys- three if you included Peter, which nobody really did- always made it their job to cheer awfully loud any time a Gryffindor got sorted, to make them feel welcome. Part of it was because when Sirius got sorted nobody cheered at all, the whole hall was silent and he just took his place beside the boy he had met on the train without saying a word. And the other part was because the two of them just liked driving the teachers crazy. Remus tried not to be too loud, although he did clap and give a few cheers on the odd occasion.

"You two are going to drive everyone deaf!" Sirius jumped at the voice behind him, and turned to see Hermione standing behind him, her tie, which had been black with the Hogwarts crest on it, now showed maroon and gold stripes. Dumbledore walked past up the aisle to take his place at the teachers table, while Hermione took a seat in between James and Sirius.

"You're a Gryffindor!" James and Sirius crowed in delight, and James thumped her on the back like she was one of the guys.

"I told you, I told you she'd be a Gryffindor! I mean, she'd brilliant enough to be a Ravenclaw, but I just had a really good feeling it'd be Gryffindor!" Sirius declared. His hand found Hermione's hair and gave it a playful rub, making her already horrible nest of hair look even worse. But not that the boys would care.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had been a Hufflepuff." James teased Hermione.

"What's wrong with Hufflepuffs?" Hermione asked, giving him a stern look.

"Oh, nothing…" James shrugged, leaning against the table as Dumbledore started his speech.

"It's just Janice McKay is a total minger. And a dopey cow." He shook his head.

"And you're comparing me to her?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Hermione's ten times smarter than all of us. I'm definitely not comparing her to Janice McKay." Sirius pulled a face.

"But I'm a minger?" She asked.

"You're like my sister. I don't really look at you that way." James shrugged and started digging into the food that had just appeared on the table. The other boys followed his actions, and Hermione gave a small sigh before following their lead. She had always known that she was the ugly duckling, but having James compare her to someone he said was 'a minger' was definitely not something she liked. That was one thing that wasn't good about being friends with only boys. They were a bit inconsiderate when it came to things like that. Maybe she should find some girl friends too.


	8. In Tune With The Moon

_**A/N Thank you all for favouriting and following! Every time I get an email telling me someone has I get so excited! And even more excited when you review! So please remember to review, and share this story with anyone you think would like it! By the way, I do appreciate constructive criticism, so if I get something wrong, or my grammar is wrong, feel free to message me and tell me! **_

_**This is a busy time of the year for me so my updates won't be too often I'm afraid but I will try to get them done when I can! Also, I've been thinking about how to go on with this story since I started it. There needs to be a time-skip, because while she's young (well, looks young) nothing much will really happen. So I thought this would be an appropriate time-skip. There will probably be flashbacks along the line somewhere too. Please tell me your opinion on the time-skip and the chapter! **_

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK THE THIRD, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Hermione roared as she marched down the corridor of the Hogwarts express, a black and white fur ball walking in her wake and a prefects badge pinned to her chest. As she stormed towards the Marauders usual compartment at the back of the train, students darted out of her way into the nearest compartment, or pressed themselves up against the wall. They'd all learnt over the years to not get in a prefects way if they were angry, especially if that prefect was Hermione Potter. And Hermione Potter was more than angry.

She was fuming, flapping her arms about and giving the uncanny impression of a bird as she tried to smack the flying sanitary items away from her. It seemed that someone had charmed the contents of her toiletry bag to follow her around since she'd left the compartment an hour ago to do her prefect rounds. Of course, she hadn't noticed this until she'd heard a compartment of third years giggling at her as she told them off for clogging up the corridor.

Hermione ripped open the door and pointed a finger in the direction of the long, curly haired boy who was holding his stomach as he snorted at the sight of Hermione. But when he saw her face, bright red with an angry scowl plastered upon it he abruptly stopped and shared a nervous glance with the bespectacled boy lounging on the seat across from him. James, all too familiar with Hermione's temper, immediately gushed, "It wasn't my idea, I swear!" at the exact same time Sirius shouted, "It was Prongs!"

Hermione ignored the both of their pleas and turned her rage on Sirius. "You-!" She started, but was cut off as another sanitary item came zooming up behind her and hit her hard on the behind with a surprising amount of force for such a small object, and sent her stumbling forwards into the compartment.

She was absolutely sure it was Sirius' idea then and there. First of all, Sirius was into playing jokes like this on the Gryffindor girls. Just last month Dorcas Meadows had had a whole bucket full of tampons dumped over her as she walked into the great hall for breakfast. And secondly, Sirius, like any 16 year old boy, had a fascination with girls' bums. And he made it well known. He still spouted a black and blue bruise on his cheek from when he'd given some older woman he didn't know a smack on the rump the last Hogsmeade weekend.

As she was pelted on the head by a few tampons, Hermione closed her eyes and gave a frustrated sigh. "I'm going to count to three," She said slowly, her hands clenched by her sides. "And if the charm isn't broken by then-"

"Alright, alright!" Sirius barked, and with a flick of his wand the many sanitary objects in the air fell to the ground around Hermione.

"Calm yourself, woman. It was just a bit of harmless fun." Sirius lounged back in his seat and shook his head at Hermione.

"Someone's in tune with the moon, I'd say." James added, picking himself up to clear some room on his side of the compartment for Hermione to sit. 'In tune with the moon' was their way of saying that Hermione was grumpy and therefore must be on 'that time of the month'. It was quite a clever saying, although not at all funny when they were actually right and got smacked on the head by multiple books. Hermione had quite an arm. Or was it just that she always liked to read the thickest books, with the hardest covers?

Hermione didn't move from her spot. "That _wasn't funny, _Sirius! Do you know how many people _saw _me? I'm going to be the laughing stock of the school! Nobody will take me seriously anymore!"

Sirius rolled his eyes slightly and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're a marauder, love. Nobody takes us seriously anyway!"

"Vixen, he's right. It was just a laugh." James defended his best friend.

Hermione had in this time frame for almost three years now. Their 5th year at Hogwarts had just ended, and the boys had all turned 16 during the year. Their first year together had been a bit jumpy. Peter had been like a lost puppy, following them around everywhere all the time, because he had no other friends. Hermione almost felt sorry for him, except for the fact that he was the reason James and Lily died so young and left Harry an orphan. With Hermione there, there was no place for Peter. Sirius and James were best friends, and something between Remus and Hermione just clicked. Within a year, they had become as inseparable as James and Sirius were, and Peter was completely out of the picture. At the end of their third year, Remus had told her his secret, which she took the pleasure in keeping for him until he also told Sirius and James. At the start of their fourth year, the three had started their journey to become animagus'.

_Hermione watched in awe as the stag approached her, shaking around his head and almost smacking her with his already massive antlers that crowned his head. She reached out a hand and stroked his head, trailing her hand over the antlers slowly, which were furry, covered in velvet. It was hard to believe that James' animagus was already so big, when James was only 14. The stag stood nearly twice as tall as Hermione was, looking down at her with twinkling, mischief filled eyes. He was gorgeous, majestic even. Although she'd never tell him that. She didn't want his head to get any bigger than it already was. She jumped in fright when a bark ringed in her ears, and suddenly the stag was on the ground, wrestling with a shaggy black dog, at least three times smaller than the stag was. It was quite a funny sight. At Hermione's chuckling, the dog rolled off the stag and started to sniff her. And a moment later, James was standing where the stag had been. _

"_Your turn, now, Mione." He urged her with cocky grin, obviously proud of his animagus form._

"_Oh, I don't know…can't I just surprise you on the next full moon?" She asked, giving a nervous laugh._

"_You've got a stupid animagus, don't you?" Sirius asked with a laugh as he appeared beside her in place of where the dog had been. He slung his arm around her shoulders as he asked, "What is it? An ant? A dung beetle ?" he teased her. _

"_Nothing quite so small and crushable, although, James and Remus would probably be able to squash me if I got under their feet." Hermione admitted, giving Sirius a push to get him off of her._

"_Come on, you have to show us! We showed you ours!" James said adamantly. _

"_Yeah, it's not fair if you don't!" Sirius added. _

_With a sigh, Hermione turned her back to the boys. "You _can't _laugh, okay?"_

"_Yeah, yeah, whatever." Sirius said with a quick roll of his eyes. "Just go already."_

_Hermione closed her eyes in concentration, as she was still quite new to being an animagus and needed concentration to change, and before long she felt a shrinking sensation. _

"_A fox!" James burst out as he peered at the small, ginger animal with a long fluffy tail. _

"_A Vixen." Sirius corrected with a grin. "You were being stupid, Mione! Foxes are cool!"_

_But the two boys frowned in confusion when a small meow sounded, and Hermione turned around to face them, in the form of a ginger cat, that only looked like a fox from behind._

"_Oh." James said stupidly. "You're a cat. Not a fox."_

"_Well, you were probably right. Remus is going to squash you like a bug."m Sirius swore he saw the cat roll its eyes. "But, me and James are here to protect you, Vixen."_

"_Vixen? Mate, she'd not a fox. Obviously, it's a cat." James pointed out._

"_I know dipshit." Sirius rolled his eyes. "But it suits her, don't you think?"_

"_How?"_

"_Well, from behind she kind of does still look like a fox." Sirius pointed out. "And Vixen can also mean a spirited woman, which Hermione definitely is."_

_James took a moment to think before he nodded. "I like it." _

"_And, in old myths, Vixens are demons used for sexual pleasurement." Sirius stated with a cheeky grin. "Who knows. Little Hermione might not be as innocent as we thought._

_Sirius didn't expect that cat to be able to hurt him. But when they all left the room of requirement he had multiple scratches over his face._

Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts when the sliding door to the compartment opened, and a tired looking Remus walked in.

"What's going on? There's a lot of chatter about Hermione being attacked by…you know. Lady things."

This prompted Sirius and James to burst into laughter, both at the fact that the students were still laughing at the prank they pulled on Hermione and the fact that Remus couldn't even say 'tampons'. Remus was a shy boy. He had always been shy and bookish, and when James and Sirius had started becoming interested in girls Remus kept his interests on books. Hermione didn't mind this at all, in fact, it was one of the things she loved about Remus. When James and Sirius were out being stupid and telling sexual jokes, Remus would – _most _of the time. There was always the odd occasion when Sirius and James' joked were actually funny – just dismiss the joke with a roll of his eyes and not join in with the shenanigans. He also seemed like one of those boys who knew nothing about the opposite sex and wasn't even interested. He seemed quite innocent, really. But Hermione knew that this couldn't be true if he were friends with James and Sirius. They were, of course, the type of boys who would sit opposite Hermione and hide a dirty magazine behind the cover of a text book and act like she didn't realise.

Hermione put her head in her hands and gave a frustrated groan at their laughing. "I told you! Nobody is ever going to take me seriously ever again!"

"Oh, come on, Vixen. They will…maybe in a few years' time." James said with a snort, nudging her. "Cheer up."

Hermione responded by slouching in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest moodily.

Remus shut the sliding door behind him before taking a seat opposite Hermione, his eyes sympathetic. He wasn't a stranger to Sirius and James' pranks. But, they had never been as ridiculous as the one they had done to Hermione. "It'll be alright." He said solemnly. "I'm sure they'll have all forgotten about it by the time we come back next year."

With a small meow, Boris jumped from where he had been perched at Hermione's feet and onto Remus' lap. Remus instantly started petting the cat, but his attention never wavered from Hermione. Sirius instantly sat up straighter and wiggled away from Remus when Boris joined him, pressing himself closer to the window. Seeing him move, Boris hissed at Sirius and his tail flicked angrily. The two had never gotten along. Hermione didn't know why. At first she had thought it was because of Sirius' animagus form, but then when Boris had taken a liking to Remus, who was definitely more dog like than Sirius was, she had become utterly confused.

"Bloody cat…" Sirius muttered, earning another hiss from Boris in reply.

Sirius did his best to ignore the cat, and instead looked over at Hermione. "I'm going to kill that cat, one day, Hermione." He stated. "It's loony. Just the other day I found him in the bottom of my bed! He shredded up my legs!"

Hermione gave a snort and gave him a look that screamed, 'you deserve it'. "He was just trying to play with you, probably." She said dismissively, and then turned her attention back to Remus, pulling out the latest book she'd got from the library to chat with him about.

Sirius watched Hermione for a few moments. It was obvious how mad she was at him and James – well, mostly him – and that was the last thing he wanted. With a small sigh, he turned away from her, and James caught his eye, raising an eyebrow in question.

_What's up with you?_

Sirius shook his head in dismissal and turned his attention back out the window, watching the countryside roll by. It was going to be a long summer.

_**A/N So what do you think so far? Review please! Sorry about how long it took to update my laptop broke and had to get fixed! Sorry about the chapter not being so interesting, it's practically just a filler. It was going to have something else in it but it was getting too long. It will be coming up in the next chapter!**_


	9. Mr Wilkes

As the train pulled into Platform 9 & ¾ Hermione peered around James and Sirius, who had their heads out the window, to search for Mrs. and Mr. Potter standing in the crowd of parents on the platform. Unlike Sirius' parents, who never bothered to come to the platform to collect him and his brother, both Mr. and Mrs. Potter were always there to welcome the four marauders home with bone crushing hugs. Hermione had never believed when she'd first arrived that at the end of the year she would be this happy to see her foster parents, but as she had grown closer to Sirius and Remus, she had also grown closer to James, Mrs. Potter and Mr. Potter. She loved them all like family. No - they were her family. James, her brother; Mrs. Potter, her mother and Mr. Potter her father. They were so kind and caring towards her, Hermione was scared to think what it would have been like had she been adopted by the Black's.

Seeing the familiar head of salt and pepper curls, standing beside a tall man with greying hair and round spectacles, Hermione turned from the window and ran out into the corridor, trying to push her way through the crowd of students to get to the door first. The thundering footsteps behind her signaled that the boys were all following her lead.

Even once the doors were open, it took a while for the four of them to get out of the train and onto the platform because of the traffic buildup in the corridor. But once they were outside it was no trouble finding the older couple in the crowd.

Hermione threw herself into Mrs. Potter's arms, grinning from ear to ear as Mrs. Potter squeezed her tightly and kissed her head repeatedly while beside them James greeted his father with a hug as well. It was like this every year when they got home from school. Mr. and Mrs. Potter would greet all the children with hugs and kisses, even Sirius and Remus, who they considered their children as much as Hermione and James. They were at their house during the summer as much as James and Hermione were, so they practically were. Hermione moved on to hug Mr. Potter as Sirius swooped in for a hug from Mrs. Potter.

He was a hugger at heart, which Hermione knew quite well. During the summers the four of them spent at the Potter Mansion together Sirius quite often found himself hugging Mrs. Potter, perhaps just because he loved the love and affection she gave him, which he didn't get back at home. He also hugged Hermione a fair bit, although that was when they weren't screaming at each other. They got on each other's nerves a lot. He could be infuriating at times, but Hermione loved him like she loved James, and they got on like bread and butter when they weren't fighting. When Sirius wasn't glued to James' side, you could find him with Hermione, either leaning against her, or lying with her on her bed with her as she read her books.

At 16 he was very tall, and seemed to tower over Hermione who was average height. She knew he wasn't _that _tall, but added to his well-built build from quidditch, he seemed it sometimes. In fact, all the boys were taller than Hermione, but Remus was the tallest, and was still growing fast.

"It's good to see all of you. The house has been so quiet all year without you!" Mrs. Potter cried as she crushed Sirius in a hug.

Sirius grinned into her shoulder and squeezed her just as tight. "I've missed you too, Mrs. Potter."

And he truly had. He loved the Potters more than he loved his own family. He looked forward to when he could sneak out of the house and visit them during the summer.

When they had all greeted each other with bone crushing hugs, the Lupin's, who had been standing not far from the Potter's, stepped forward to greet everyone, starting with their son and Hermione. Hermione was their favourite out of Remus' friends, as she didn't tend to get Remus in trouble whereas the other boys did. But they also greeted James and Sirius with hugs, before Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin headed off to collect their trunks from the pile of luggage further down the platform.

Mrs. Potter hadn't stopped smiling since she'd seen them in the window, and now she stood with her hands clasped in front of her, and her eyes shining brightly in the joy of having her children home. As she started chatting with Mrs. Lupin about having Remus over later in the summer, Remus stepped forward to stand beside Hermione, ducking his head a little bit in a shy manner, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"My parents are taking me camping this summer. After the moon…So I won't be able to visit until…later in the summer. Probably around the week before we head back to school." He murmured to her. "But I'll write when I can. That's if Mum doesn't keep me tramping the whole time."

Hermione laughed and stood on her tip toes to wrap her best friend in a hug. "I'll write to you too. Even if you don't reply because you're too busy tramping." She chuckled again. "And I'll come and help tomorrow night. For the moon." This time she spoke at a whisper.

The full moon was due tomorrow, and Remus had been feeling awful all day. He was supposed to be in bed, resting, but because of the train ride home he had to be up and around with everybody else. Remus wrapped his long arms around Hermione, leaning down so she didn't have to stretch so far. His chin rested on her shoulder, and he got a face full of her nest of curls, but he didn't care. He squeezed his eyes closed and inhaled her scent deeply. On days like these, his wolf senses were over whelming. He could hear everything, from peoples private conversations, to peoples heart beats if he really tried to listen. And he could smell things more clearly.

Hermione's scent was something that Remus' inner animal had come to love when he came close to the full moon. He could smell her lemon shampoo clearly in human form, but on days like this is made his nose twitch and made him want to sneeze. He could smell the vanilla body wash she used, and deeper than that, he could smell her all natural scent. Those two mixed together drove him absolutely mental, and he didn't realise that he was sniffing really loudly.

"Moony, don't wipe your bogies in Hermione's hair." James said with a snort, giving him a playful push.

Remus abruptly pulled away, his cheeks warming a little bit. "Your shampoo makes my nose itch." He tried to cover it up, giving his nose a rub.

He glanced away, his shoulders slouching in embarrassment. Everyone thought that Remus was as interested as rocks as he was in girls, that when Sirius and James had started acting interested in girls, reading dirty magazines, that he hadn't and was just interested in his books. That wasn't quite true. Remus had had a few crushes in his lifetime, although, none that he could tell his friends about.

His first crush had been on Lily Evans from the age of 12 until he was 15 years old. How could he not have liked her? She was so kind, gentle, smart, and not to mention good in the looks department. He had told nobody about this crush, because it had made him feel guilty just looking at her. She was James' girl, and not only could he not have her because of that, there was no way that Lily would like him if James was his competition.

He had also had a little bit of a crush around Emmeline Vance around the time he was 14. He'd tutored her in charms, although, after a few weeks she had stopped coming to sessions because James and Sirius kept teasing her.

But both of those crushes had seemed to fade around the time he went to the Potter's annual Christmas Party in the year just past. He, James and Sirius had always known that at some point Hermione would start to grow up, becoming more feminine as she did. But they hadn't really noticed how much she had grown up until that day, when she had walked down in one of Mrs. Potter's old dresses. His crush on her had bloomed from there. She was starting to grow into her teeth, although, her hair hadn't tamed at all. It was still as wild and curly as it had been. He thought that she was adorable, with her wild mane and long teeth that she used to pinch her lower lip between when she was thinking hard. He'd been watching her since that day, but, there wasn't much he could do about it. She was his best friend, and if he said anything it would ruin their friendship. Not to mention James and Sirius, who were like her brothers. How would they react to his crush?

Turning his body away from Hermione and shoving his hands lower into his trouser pockets, his eyes flicked to the ground shyly. What did Sirius say? There were plenty more fish in the sea.

"Don't bother coming to help tomorrow… " He mumbled to his friends. "I'll be locked up. I'll just end up hurting one of you."

His friends voiced their protests, but he shook his head adamantly, glancing over his shoulder to see his father growing closer. "It's for the best." He assured them. "I'll just see you all at the end of the summer." And with that, Remus Lupin turned and walked over to his father, taking his trunk, before walking away with his parents in tow.

Following suit, the Potters – plus one Black – started making their way towards the brick wall that led to Kings Cross Station.

"It makes me so angry!" Hermione muttered to Sirius as she shuffled through the crowds. "How they lock him up like that during the summer. Caging the beast only makes him more angry! He'll take it out on himself!"

"Well what do you expect them to do, love? Let him out on the town?" Sirius gave her a look. "Better caged and angry than in Azkaban for killing or infecting someone."

"It's barbaric! I know they love him, but there needs to be some place he can roam without danger!" Hermione seethed.

"Look, one day there might be. But for now…there's no other way." Sirius said, placing both his hands on Hermione's shoulders to stop her. "He's strong, Mione. He's been dealing with his for years now. He can handle it."

Hermione nodded numbly, running a hand over her nest of curls. "I just worry about him."

"We all do." Sirius brushed back her curls, holding her gaze. "But he can do this. We know he's strong."

"Oi, you two, hurry up!" James ushered, waving his hand at the two from where Mr. and Mrs. Potter were standing in a deserted part of Platform 9 & ¾, waiting to apparate with them.

Sirius and Hermione pulled away from each other. Hermione made her way towards the group, while Sirius stood stuck to the spot, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.

"Will you be joining us for dinner, Sirius, dear?" Mrs. Potter asked as Hermione took her hand, smiling brightly at the boy she considered her second son as he stood opposite them, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Nah. I'd better get home. The she-witch will have a fit if I don't get home soon." He smiled at her, and for a moment his eyes flickered between the true fear Hermione knew he felt when going home, and the fake, happy shell he put on.

"Well, you know you're always welcome in our home, Sirius. Pop by any time you feel like it." Mr. Potter said, flashing the famous Potter grin James always had on his face.

Sirius gave a salute to them all, and the last thing Hermione saw before they turned on the spot, was Sirius' face falling, and showing a true look of fear.

When they apparated to their destination, Hermione looked around, a small frown appearing on her face. They were in the all too familiar adoption department in the Ministry of Magic. She'd spent some days here in her summers, meeting families who were looking for a daughter to adopt. But none of them had adopted her. Hermione didn't care. She was happy with the Potter's. They were he family. She loved them dearly. But what on earth were they doing here? Hermione had thought they would be finished here, that they had just accepted that she was a part of the family.

Hermione caught Mrs. Potter's eye, who smiled widely and held her arms out. "Surprise!"

Hermione smiled nervously, "What's the surprise?" She asked carefully.

"Someone has come forward saying they'd like to adopt you!" She squealed happily, and hugged Hermione. She was happy for Hermione, happy that someone had finally said yes to adopting her. But she too was a little bit sad that Hermione would be leaving the house.

Hermione's heart fell. No! She couldn't be adopted now! She didn't want to leave the Potter's! She wrapped her arms around Mrs. Potter and held her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

Sensing her discomfort, Mrs. Potter kissed her head and looked at her. "I'm sure he's a nice man, Hermione. He'll let you visit us, I'm sure." She kissed her head again and pushed her curls out of her face.

"Hermione Potter?" The two looked up to see a woman with a clip board giving them all a fake smile.

"This…is Mr. Wilkes. He's going to be adopting you."

Hermione openly stared at the man. As she took in his dark manner, the way he looked at everyone with narrowed eyes, and the way one of his sleeves was rolled up but the other was not, there was no doubt in her mind that this man was a death eater.

_**A/N Thoughts on the chapter? What do you think of her being adopted? Any thoughts on what will happen in the next chapter? Remember – I never do anything stupid without a reason xD So while this move looks a bit stupid, it is very important to how the story progresses. I have carefully thought it out, so just wait and find out! **_


	10. What to do and What not to do

_**A/N Hello all! Thanks for sticking with me so far! This chapter only really reveals half of my evil plan. The rest will come out in the next few. What do you think will happen in the next chapter? **_

_**Also, I was wondering, are there any computer geniuses out there? I was wondering if any of you were good with photoshop and would possibly consider making a cover photo for this story. I'm absolutely crap with photoshop. I've tried, believe me. And I failed. Miserably. If you're interested in helping please PM me! Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**_

"Girl! Dinner is ready!"

Hermione flinched at the sudden angry voice and dropped her book onto the floor, the loud thud echoing around the empty upper floors of the manner. Hermione had been in her new home for less than 2 hours and she was already scared out of her wits. She hadn't seen much of Wilkes. After showing her to her bedroom he'd swept into his office down the hall, slamming and locking the door behind him.

Wilkes didn't seem like a happy man, and he wasn't particularly kind or paternal either. The few times he had spoken to Hermione in the time she had known him he had either yelled at her from down the hall, or he had glared down at her, his voice hard. This made her wonder why she was even there. It wasn't like he'd just had the urge to adopt to fulfil his paternal urges.

More than once the thought had crossed Hermione's mind that Voldemort knew. He knew that she was from the future. He knew that she was here to defeat him. And he had ordered Wilkes as one of his followers to adopt her, and then dispose of her. This thought had caused Hermione to flinch and quake in fear every time she heard him stomping down the corridor outside her bedroom.

"Did you hear me? Get down here now!"

Hermione gulped a little bit and stood up, smoothing down the front of her pants in a nervous habit. She checked her wand was tucked firmly in the pocket of her jeans, before she walked out the door and down stairs, the floorboards creaking as she walked down the staircase.

The house was old and dark, and reminded her much of 12 Grimmauld place in the way that she could hear an old, depressed house elf walking around the house talking to himself about anything and everything. Hermione wished she could help him, but it wouldn't be wise of her to try in a pureblood household, especially since that pureblood was most likely a death eater.

Hermione stood outside of the dining room, her heart pounding in her chest so hard she was worried that Wilkes could hear it in the next room.

_You can do this, for Harry and Ron; for James, Sirius and Remus. For everyone that was lost in the war. _

She didn't need to keep reminding herself. The thought was always there, lightly settled in the back of her mind. But she always found she worked harder after reminding herself.

_Everyone makes sacrifices, Hermione. Remember what you made yours for._

Hermione pushed the door open and slipped inside quickly and quietly, shutting it beside her. Although the room was dark, it didn't take her long to spot Wilkes. He was at one end of the long table, which was probably meant for dinner parties and death eater gatherings, as it looked like it could sit a rather long number. He was also close to the flickering fire. He was so close to the fire, in fact, that Hermione could see an angry expression glowing on his face.

"Sit." It was only one word, but it was enough to send Hermione scurrying quickly to take the seat on his left. She draped a napkin over her lap and crossed her ankles under the table, trying her best to imitate the way Walburga had sat at the table those years ago where she had eaten dinner with the Blacks.

She earned a grunt of approval from Wilkes, before he started to eat. Hermione followed his lead, eating slowly and trying to be proper and tidy while she did.

"You were late. Next time I expect you to be here less than a minute after I've called for you." Wilkes said, watching Hermione with narrowed eyes.

"And I expect you to be wearing something tidy." He looked at her jeans pointedly, before looking back up to her face. "There are a number of dresses and skirts in the closet in your bedroom. I guessed your size, but if they don't fit you Darius will alter them for you."

"Yes, sir." Hermione nodded slowly, her eyes on the man sitting in front of her. She made a mental note to not wear trousers in front of Wilkes.

"Dear, you'll call me father, now." Wilkes said, flashing smile at Hermione that seemed almost evil as she sat there, chills trailing down her back from those three words.

"Yes…father." The words made her feel sick. She knew she could never think of this man as her father. She had just been starting to think of Mr. Potter as a father before she'd been adopted. She was heartbroken that she wouldn't be able to keep living with the Potter's, growing up with them. But she supposed it was better this way. This way, she would be more focused on her mission, being careful not to get caught. Although, it would be awfully hard to keep in contact with Dumbledore when there was a death eater breaking down her neck.

Again, Wilkes nodded in approval as she called him father, but the evil looking smile stayed on his face all through dinner, as he explained what Wilkes' do and what Wilkes' do not do. It was pretty much a pureblood handbook, and hours later back in her bedroom, Hermione started scribbling the most important ones down in a notebook. Most of the rules she'd guessed would pop up.

'_We don't have any contact with mudbloods'_

'_We don't associate with blood traitors'_

'_We don't have any contact with squibs'_

'_We don't have any contact with _muggles'

'_House elfs are not our friends. We do not speak to them and distract them from their work'_

And other stupid rules about appearance and punctuality. Hermione, as she was told, was also to keep up her good grades and appearances as prefect. She guessed there was an 'or else' that had disappeared from that sentence when he told her, because the look on his face was rather threatening.

Not once did he say anything about her being in Gryffindor, and that bothered Hermione. There were a lot of purebloods in Gryffindor house, in fact, there were many spread out across all four houses, although mostly in Slytherin. She knew that something would probably be said later on about having contact with James, as she knew his family were known as 'blood traitors'. Something would be said about Sirius too, eventually. After he left home, which she knew would be later on this summer.

She didn't know what she would do without her friends…she didn't want to start associating with Slytherins. She didn't want to lose her best friends all because Wilkes said she had too. She could ignore him, although, he would probably find out. There were many spies in Slytherin that would most likely report back to him on her activities inside and outside of the classroom.

But most of all, Hermione wanted to know what she was doing here. She paced her bedroom as she thought of how she could find this out.

Her bedroom was what you would expect from a pureblood house hold: it was average sized, with a large, canopied bed in the middle, much like her room at the Potter Mansion, except it was extremely green. It had multiple sets of drawers complete with a vanity mirror, and a desk over in the corner, accompanied by a book shelf, which Hermione had already taken the liberty in setting her books up on. But the room was rather gloomy looking. It was dim, dark, and made Hermione rather down while looking around. In this way, it wasn't at all like Potter mansion. Potter mansion was bright and colourful. It made Hermione happy just being here, rather the opposite to here.

Hermione sunk down onto her bed when no ideas came to her, and she rubbed her temples. There just weren't any logical reasons on why she was here, other than Wilkes adopting her so he could dispose of her with no mess. He had no wife that he could present with a child to make her happy. No, it was just him, and Darius, the house elf. Was he lonely? No, Hermione didn't think so. He seemed to like being on his own. He spent most of his time in his office by himself.

Hermione stood up abruptly. His office! She could search his office! Surely there would be some answering in there as to why she was here. Letters, documents, maybe. She had to try. She wasn't just going to sit there and wait for Wilkes to murder her in her sleep.

But how could she get in there without being caught? She wished as much as ever that James was here with her. Not just for his invisibility cloak. She wanted someone to lean on, someone to confide in. All she had was Dumbledore. She wasn't allowed to tell anyone else of her predicament.

Hermione glanced down at her wand and gave a defeated sigh. She would have to settle for an invisibility spell, and they weren't even in the same league as the invisibility cloak. They weren't as reliable, and the spell would drop if she banged into someone, or if they knew she was there. And it wouldn't last nearly as long.

Without any hesitance she tapped herself on the head and muttered the spell, and a cold feeling washed over her, like freezing cold water dripping down her back. She glanced in the mirror, nodding in approval when she couldn't see herself. Ever so slowly, she opened the door and stepped outside, glancing up and down the hallway to check the coast was clear before she began to walk. The purpose of secrecy was defeated when every so often the floorboards would creak under her feet. She just hoped that Wilkes was too busy, wherever he was, to hear it.

She tip-toed down the hallway ever so slowly, trying to be as quiet as she could. When she got to the first door on her left, she stopped and pressed her ear to the door. Nothing. No sound of life what so ever. Hermione glanced over her shoulder, making sure nobody was coming, before ever so slowly opening the door, wincing at the loud creak it made. Surely someone would have heard that. She would have to be quick. She darted inside, and frowned, disappointed at what she saw. It was just a spare bedroom that was unoccupied. Everything was covered in white sheets to stop the dust from settling on the furniture. Hermione gave a disappointed sigh, and stepped back outside, and almost squealed to what she came face to face with. Well, knee to face. Darius stood in front of her, although he was looking straight past her, into the bedroom. Hermione held her breath and leaned against the wall, her heart thudding loudly in her chest.

"Master?" Darius' voice was wheezy, and that along with his rather saggy and wrinkly skin told Hermione that he was a rather old house elf.

He stared into the bedroom for a few moments, before shutting the door. And for a moment, Hermione swore that he looked right at her, before padding away down the hallway, leaving Hermione alone.

Hermione took a few minutes to calm herself, before she kept going down the hallway. She couldn't stop now.

When she got to the second door on the left, she stopped, and pressed her ear to it. And she could hear Wilkes inside. But he wasn't alone.

"Blast it…" Hermione muttered to herself, and went to pull away. But she was pulled back to the door by what she heard Wilkes say.

"She'll be ready by the end of the summer, I believe. It seemed being with the Potter's has not been a complete waste of time for her. She has manners, and the ability to follow orders. And I believe that possibly halfway through the summer I could start training her, for you, my Lord."

Hermione felt sick. My Lord? Voldemort was standing in the room right beside her.

"Good, good. She shows more promise already than that of the other two. Daniel is a slob, and Gilbert won't listen to anything he is told. Both have already been punished."

"Already? But it hadn't even been a day." Hermione heard a cold laugh, obviously Wilkes.

Voldemort didn't sound amused. "They are pureblood. And that is all that matters." He said, his voice smooth, although it had the ability to sound scary at the same time, and Wilkes quietened.

"Keep an eye on her. Watch her every move. Bellatrix did remind me that she did turn up out of the blue on her aunt's doorstep three years ago. But, if everything goes to plan, start training her. But report back to me on everything."


	11. Protecting them

Hermione carefully counted out the coins in her hand, making sure she had the right amount of money, before she placed it onto the counter in front of her and gave a shy smile to the lady at the counter, apologizing on how long it had taken to sort out all her coins to get the exact amount. It had been a while since she had been out and about in the wizarding world, in fact, she hadn't left the manor since she'd arrived at her new home at the start of the summer, and when she'd first stepped outside the fresh air had made her a little bit dizzy.

Darius usually did the small amount of shopping for Wilkes, and by extension Hermione. But this was usually only apparating to the local wizarding grocer, and picking up 'the usual' order for Wilkes. When Hermione had awkwardly said to her new father that she'd needed feminine products, he had first dismissed it quickly, saying that Darius would pick them up for her. Little did he know, that Hermione had talked to Darius about it earlier, and rattled off about all the different brands and sizes, and the house elf had become quite confuzzled. The poor elf had never had to deal with living with a female before; he didn't know what to do! He had cautiously suggested that Miss Hermione get them herself. And afterwards he had smacked himself over the head with Hermione's bedside lamp, much to Hermione's horror.

She hadn't wanted the poor elf to start punishing himself because she was confusing him. It made her feel wracked with guilt. Because she'd tried to confuse Darius on purpose. All she had wanted was to go out, get some fresh air. She hadn't realised that Darius, much like her old friend Dobby, punished himself for saying things like that. But in the end, it had worked. Darius had, in a frightened voice, announce to his master that he wasn't sure what to get for Miss Hermione. Although Wilkes had been quite mad about this, he had begrudgingly agreed that when he went out for business Hermione could accompany him and do some shopping for herself. It was on that morning that he had put the bracelet on her and put the curse on it.

At first, Hermione had been sure it was a hoax, and it wouldn't actually do what he had said. But when Hermione bumped into a muggle outside the three broomsticks pub on their way to Diagon Alley, and she had apologized, she had flinched at the painful, burning sensation on her wrist, under where the bracelet laid upon the skin of her wrist. Wilkes had seemed to find it funny, watching her face contort with pain at the burning sensation that lasted a minute at most. Hermione already hated him, but in that moment she hated him even more.

Leaving her to walk through Diagon Alley on her own, Hermione was left to test out the bracelet. It seemed to be dormant, except for when she fiddled it. The more she played with it the more it would hurt. And she didn't want to test it out talking to people she was forbidden to talk to. She imagined that it would hurt worse than apologising to a muggle.

"Two galleons change," the woman at the counter said, slipping the two coins into Hermione's hand and snapping her out of her trance, before starting to bag her products.

"No, no, it's alright. If you don't mind, I'll just put them in here…" Hermione pulled her shoulder satchel off and opened it. "I don't want to take it if I don't need it…it would be a waste."

The witch smiled at her and obligingly put the items Hermione had bought into her bag. "Have a good day!" She called to Hermione as she walked out of the shop, the door closing behind her with a gentle jingle.

Hermione sighed as she breathed in the fresh air and walked down the crowded street of Diagon Alley. She still had a little while before she had to meet Wilkes, and as she looked around the busy street, without thinking about it she found herself walking in the familiar direction of the bookstore. It was her favourite place, other than the library at Hogwarts, or the Gryffindor common room. What she wouldn't give right now to curl up on the worn sofa in the Gryffindor common room with a book, leaning on one of her friends shoulders, listening to them bicker about who won the game of chess, in front of a cozy fire. That was her idea of the perfect day. One last day with her friends.

She'd already been given the talk by Wilkes, sorry, her _father. _What were the rules again?

'_We don't have any contact with mudbloods'_

'_We don't associate with blood traitors'_

'_We don't have any contact with squibs'_

'_We don't have any contact with _muggles'

'_House elfs are not our friends. We do not speak to them and distract them from their work'_

And if she was told she wasn't allowed to talk to blood traitors. Hermione was game enough to ignore his rules, of course, but only if there was no way he would find out. With connections in the Death Eaters, and therefore also some of the older students in Slytherin house. They would report back to him, obviously. And Hermione couldn't get in trouble. She had too much riding on this. She needed to infiltrate the death eaters, she needed to get in Voldemort's good books, somehow. And she knew that she wouldn't be able to save James and Lily if she was dead. She would take the rest of the school with no friends, over the wizarding world crumpling, Remus losing all of his friends, Harry growing up not being loved, and Voldemort taking over in the future. She could still protect them all as a death eater. And she would.

Hermione spent the rest of the time she had left as a free woman reading in her favourite corner of the bookstore, curled up on the bean bag. She was reading the latest biography out from a man who had lycanthropy. It was a sequel to a favourite of hers, and she was hoping he would put out at least one more book about his life. She wanted to buy it, but not only would her father go nuts at her for having a book about a werewolf, he would probably also go nuts at her for spending the rest of his money he'd given her on something like that. So when her time was up, she put the book back on the shelf, before making her way out of the bookstore. She had only taken a few steps before she banged into a wall of flesh. And she was engulfed in a hug.

"Vixen! Geez, I was getting worried that you'd been murdered and buried in the back yard! You haven't replied to any of my letters, or Padfoots! Or even Moonys! We were all freaking out!"

Hermione pinched her eyes closed at the sudden burning sensation in her wrist. She knew who it was. James, of course. It wasn't just the talking that gave it away. It was the burning, too. She knew it would be more painful when she spoke to someone she was forbidden from talking too. And she was absolutely forbidden from talking to James Potter.

"G-get off me." She croaked a little bit. She had to get away from here.

"What?" James laughed and looked down at his friend, his sister. "Merlin, Vixen, I swear you've gotten shorter!"

"Get off me!" Hermione repeated, a little louder, and this time James listened, stepping backwards and frowning at her.

"What's wrong with you? You're not in tune with the moon, are you?" Sirius asked teasingly as he appeared at her side, poking her in the ribs.

"No, I'm not 'in tune with the moon'!" Hermione sighed and rubbed at her wrist, her face contorting with pain.

James frowned further that time, and shoved his hands into his pockets. He shared a quick glance with Sirius.

"Are you alright, Hermione? You're not usually like this…except when we've pranked you…but we haven't done anything this summer…except for sending you that howler…but it was in good spirits I swear…"

Hermione wasn't listening. She was staring off into space, well, actually, into the shop across from them. There stood Wilkes, watching her with a menacing look on his face.

_You can't protect them if you're dead, Hermione. Do something!_

"Leave me alone!" She snapped at the two of them, making them both flinch. It wasn't out of Hermione's character to yell at them, but this time it was different.

"What've I done now?" Sirius groaned, shaking his head at her. Bloody moody witch.

"I don't talk to blood traitors like the likes of you." Hermione sneered at him, her face screwing up in disgust.

Both Sirius and James faltered then, and the unmistakable look of hurt was in their eyes.

"Get out of my way," Hermione pushed past them, stomping away, trying to look like she was angry. But really she was just covering up her real feelings. Her heart was breaking.

_**A/N Sorry about the shortness of the chapter compared to others! My plan hasn't been revealed yet, but it will be in a few chapters, hopefully! And don't worry about the marauders. Things will work out, promise! Review, favourite and follow? :3**_


	12. Lonely days

Those next three weeks at Hogwarts were torture for Hermione. The term had well and truly started, and she had been swamped with essays and other homework tasks that she tried to focus on to distract herself from her ever growing loneliness, and guilt from what she had said to those she cared most about. She felt awful. How could she have said that to them? It was in times like these that she remembered how a simple word could wound someone so greatly. It had been years since she had been called that dreadful word, years since she had felt the amount of pain that she had caused James and Sirius. But she knew that they had to be hurting even more than she did, when called that dreadful M word back in her old life, for James and Sirius had been hurt by their friend, someone they had thought that they could trust.

Hermione spent most of her time in the library these days, avoiding the Gryffindor common room as much as possible. Though she found all of the work and studying she done boring, as she had already learnt most of it, she welcomed the boringness of her distraction. It was either that, or face the music. And she wasn't quite ready to do that yet. Call her a coward if you will, but Hermione was afraid that when she went to apologise to her friends, they would dismiss her with a flick of their wrists. Hermione had never had many friends back in her old life, and it was the same now. She spoke to Marlene and Alice on occasion. They were nice girls, but Hermione had always felt more at home with the boys. Her marauders.

She had a different relationship with all three of them, each held a different place in her heart, but she loved each of them as equally as each other.

James was her brother. He was there to comfort her each time she woke to nightmares back at Potter Mansion, even when she assured him that she was fine, and that it was just a stupid dream. He saw through each and every of her lies. He could read her moods like a book. He teased her mercifully, and he cared for her like any big brother would.

Sirius was her confident. Although out of all the boys Sirius was the one that teased her the most, the one she fought with the most, the one who drove her to the verge of insanity, she had a special bond with Sirius. When he had stayed at the mansion when she was still there, they had stayed up late through the night speaking about anything and everything. Anything that was bothering her. And they often spoke about the day she had arrived. In the first year, Sirius had always asked her if she remembered anything about her parents, how she got to Grimmauld place, and even her blood status. He was the only one who knew what her true blood status was. And it was a secret he'd kept for her, even after she had called him a blood traitor. She knew how much he must be hurting, what he must think of her.

And Remus was her best friend. The two of them went together like muggle peanut butter and jam sandwiches. He was her study buddy, and they would often be found in their favourite corner of the library together, talking about books, or helping each other with their homework. He was her protector. He would usually protect her from Sirius and James' practical jokes, except for when he was apart of them. He may be quiet, but he was still a marauder. And marauders were all known for pulling practical jokes now and then. He was her secret keeper. While she spoke to Sirius about things that were bothering her, Remus was the one she shared her secrets with, and vice versa. She remembered the day he told her about his lycanthropy vividly, and it was always burning in the back of her mind.

_Hermione set the stack of well-organized notes from the classes she and Remus shared on top of his carefully folded clothes inside his trunk, before shutting it and clicking the clasps shut. She was getting used to the routine of doing this for her friend by now, as for the last few months she had been taking notes at his request. _

"_How're you feeling? Any better from this morning?" Hermione asked as she took a seat beside Remus on his four poster bed in the boys' dormitory. The boys' dormitory, to sum it up in one sentence, was a complete pigsty. Over by Sirius and James' beds, you were lucky to see a patch of floor somewhere though the pile of clothes, notes and text books on the floor. It wasn't so bad around Remus' bed, but sometimes Sirius' things came creeping over and found themselves splayed out all around the room. And it smelled like someone died in there. Hermione had tried to convince them to air out the room multiple times, and Remus had told her there was no use in trying to convince them. It would always end up getting back to the disgusting mess. Besides, you got used to the smell. _

_Remus shook his head slowly, opening his eyes to look at his friend as she sat beside him on his bed. "I'm still not feeling too well." He admitted quietly, running a hand over his handy hair nervously. Usually, he would lie and say he was feeling 'loads better' but for some reason, he knew Hermione never believed him. Was he that bad of a liar? _

"_Did you want to head over to the hospital wing, then?" Hermione asked softly. "I'm sure the nurse will take much better care of you than those tossers can," She looked over Remus' head to where Sirius and James both laid drooling on their pillows where they had apparently fallen asleep from the boredom of homework, and couldn't help but laugh gently at their snoring. Boys. _

_She knew that Remus would usually head over to the hospital wing about now, and would stay in all day tomorrow, before heading to the Whomping Willow later that evening for his transformation. She knew his moon schedule inside and out, almost as good as he did. _

_Remus tried to look hesitant before he nodded, and sat up, wincing at the aching in his bones that was already beginning. _

"_Here, let me help you." Hermione stood up and held his arm, holding onto him as he got to his feet. She hoped she was helping to ease the pain a little bit. She hated seeing him like this. _

_With Hermione's help, Remus put his shoes on and the two made their way towards the hospital wing, Hermione's arm around his waist, supporting him in case he needed her. In time they made their way to the Hospital Wing, and Madam Pomfrey was quick to help Remus into one of the beds, ordering him to get some rest and for Hermione to go. _

_But Remus grabbed her wrist, looking up at her with big, almost pleading eyes. "Will you stay for a minute? There's something I want to tell you." _

_Already Hermione could see the nervousness on his face. Was this the moment? Hermione had been waiting for him to tell her about his lycanthropy since they'd become friends. She knew that he would tell her when he was ready, and until then, she'd kept her mouth shut, not saying anything. _

_Remus glanced up at Madam Pomfrey as she stood beside his bed, and bit his lip. "Could you give us a minute alone?" he asked. The nurse took a little convincing, but she left once Hermione promised she would leave straight after they were finished talking and let Remus get his rest. _

_Remus wiggled over, leaving space for Hermione to sit down beside him on the hospital bed, and bit his lip, his shoulders slouching in the shy habit he still had, and would carry into adulthood. _

"_I have something I've been wanting to talk to you about for a while now…but I've been too scared to tell you. I was afraid that once you knew, you'd see me in a different light.." Remus looked down at his lap, where he was fiddling with his hands nervously. _

"_Nothing would change my opinion of you, Remus. You're my best friend." Hermione spoke softly, but she soon fell silent, waiting patiently for Remus to speak. _

_It took a minute or two, but finally Remus spoke up. "I'm a werewolf." It took a few moments for him to dare look at her, afraid to see disgust on her face. But when he did look at her, all he saw was the kind, gentle expression on her face. _

"_Thank you for telling me." She murmured, her hand moving to his shoulder._

"_You're not…afraid?" He asked, surprised that she wasn't already running from the room screaming. _

_Hermione shook her head. "Afraid? Of you? Remus, I know you wouldn't ever hurt anybody on purpose." She murmured. "You're the kindest person I've ever met. Being a werewolf doesn't change anything." She assured him, and wrapped him in a hug._

_Remus couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped through his lips. "Thank you Hermione, it means so much to me that you don't care." He breathed, hugging her tightly. "Please- don't tell the others. I'll tell them in good time."_

"_Of course, Remus. I'll always keep your secret."_

Hermione had been so wrapped up in her memories that she hadn't noticed a black and white fluff ball approaching her. But when he jumped onto her lap where she sat in an abandoned corridor, she jumped in fright.

"Boris!" She cooed, picking him up and holding him against her chest, cradling him. She'd missed him dearly. Wilkes hadn't allowed her to bring him with her, so the Potter's had kept him for her.

"I thought you'd want to see him. After all, nobody should be along on their birthday." Hermione looked up at the familiar voice. The first thing she saw was a floating cupcake, with one lit candle in it. The second thing she saw was a tall, lean boy, with sandy hair flopping over his eyes as he leant against the wall in the shadows.

"Remus…" She breathed, putting Boris down and standing up. She was hesitant to approach him just yet, so she held her ground.

Remus had changed over the summer. He had grown an extra half a foot, it looked like, his adams apple had become a bit more prominent, and the last of his puppy fat had been lost from his long face, leaving his jaw to stick out a little but more chiseled. His voice had also changed a little bit, become deeper. He was beginning to look a bit more like her older Defense Against The Dark Arts professor.

"Sirius kept care of him for you, even after that day in Diagon Alley. You should see the scratches he's got from him." Remus said, staying where he was in the shadows, not making any move to approach her.

"You'll have to thank him for me." Hermione said softly, nervously fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist. It burned a little as she did, but she was used to it by now.

"Why don't you thank him yourself?" Remus asked. Hermione looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"You know, I've been watching you for the past couple of weeks. It doesn't make any sense." He said, stepping from the shadows. "You avoid us. Spend all your time doing school work. You don't even look at us. And yet, you don't talk to any of the Slytherins. You avoid them more you do us." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And the few times you look at Sirius and James, you open your mouth to talk and flinch. Why is that?"

Still, Hermione avoided his eyes. He approached her quicker this time, taking long strides until he was merely a few inches from her, and he grabbed her hand. She flinched as he started fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist, and pulled her hand away sharply.

"Hermione, stop!" Remus sighed, and held onto her wrist tightly, trying not to hurt her but not being able to help it.

"What is this? I know it's been hurting you. Look at it! It's _burning _you!" with his other hand, he lifted up her chin and looking into her eyes. "Who made you wear this, Hermione?"

It took Hermione a few moments to answer, but eventually she did, her voice just above a whisper. "My father."

Remus let go of her chin, shaking his head. "I knew it. I knew you wouldn't have said what you did without a reason." He said, looking down at his best friend with soft eyes.

"Why didn't you just say something? Apologise to them. Make up. Things could go back to the way they were."

"That's the thing…I can't Remus. I can't talk to them. I'm forbidden. That's what this is for." She whispered, holding up her wrist. "To stop me from talking to 'blood traitors'. He made he wear it. He cursed it, too. So I can't talk to people he's told me not to."

Remus shook his head, muttering something about that being barbaric, before grabbing her wrist again and tugging at the bracelet again, trying to pull it off, break it off somehow. But it wouldn't budge.

"It won't come off." Hermione cried. "I've tried. With everything, spells, knives, even fire! But it can't be harmed. It can't come off unless he is the one to take it off." Remus looked down at his best friend with sad eyes.

"Come on." He said gently, tugging on her arm and starting to pull her down the corridor.

"Where are we going?"

"To see James and Sirius. You need to make up."

"But I can't talk to them, Remus!" She cried.

"You may not be able to, but I can. You tell me what you want me to say to them, and I'll say it. And vice versa for them." He said simply.

Hermione was quiet for most of the walk, but spoke up when they neared the common room. "Remus? How did you know I didn't mean it?" She asked quietly.

"One time, a kind witch once told me that she knew I wouldn't hurt anybody on purpose." He looked down at her. "And I know the same for you, Hermione."


	13. Making up

"What is she doing here?" James glared at the bushy haired bookworm standing beside Remus and crossed his arms over his chest in an angry manner. The way he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at the sight of her made it obvious that he was beyond mad at her. He had changed over the summer, but Hermione hadn't really noticed until now, because she was fully looking at him for the first time since the start of the summer. That fateful day in Diagon Alley she had only allowed herself a small glimpse, because she had believed that it was the last time she'd get to see him and talk to him face to face. And over the lonely days she'd spent by herself at Hogwarts, she hadn't even allowed herself that, thinking it would hurt more if she looked at them.

He'd grown a little. Like Remus, he was taller than she was, and he seemed to be rapidly approaching 6 foot. His hair had grown, and as always, it was sticking up on end, like he'd crawled through a gorse bush. This was all accompanied by a small amount of dark stubble growing on his cheeks, something he hadn't had before the summer, which he scratched at as he stared Hermione and Remus down.

"Get the hell out of our dorm, _Wilkes. _We don't want the likes of you in here." James sneered at her, using the only name he'd referred to her as for the last few weeks. He figured that if Hermione was referring to him as 'blood traitor' then he needed something other than her name to call her, but he wouldn't stoop so low as to call her something as rude as what she had called him.

"James, please," Remus sighed exasperatedly, and gave Hermione's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Let's be civilised about this.

"Civilized?" James laughed sarcastically and looked at his friend. "Since when is it civilized to suddenly start ignoring all your friends letters, and then when you see them for the first time in months, call them one of the most insulting things in the wizarding world, a word that until then, she hadn't even been able to stand hearing it, let alone saying it?"

"There's a reason she said it, James." Remus said, glancing down at Hermione with a small frown. Well, supposedly there was a reason. He hadn't quite heard the whole reason as to why she said the words she had. He knew it had something to do with the bracelet on her wrist, and that was about as far as he had figured it out. But he figured that this was about as good a time as ever to start explaining herself. But first, he had to get the other 2 to listen.

"It's her father's doing. Not hers. Don't blame her when you don't know the whole story." Remus said, and was about to continue again when James interrupted.

"Well what is it then? What is it that could have _possibly _convinced her that it was okay to treat her best friends, the people who have looked after her, took her in, like _vermin?_" He snapped, stepping closer, so he seemed to be towering over Hermione. He had a rule that he didn't hurt girls, he would never strike one, but right now, he wanted to inflict the same pain on her as she had on him.

Remus stepped in front of the shorter girl beside him, his face inches from James, they were so close that he could smell garlic on James' breath from the spaghetti he had had for dinner. "Her father is trying to control her, through means of a bracelet." He said slowly, gritting his teeth to keep his frustration hidden. He was usually a very calm person, except around full moons, where his temper could be bought out much easier. But while the full moon wasn't close, James had a certain quality about him that could frustrate anyone by the simplest of things.

At the mention of the bracelet, Sirius perked up, moving for the first time since Hermione and Remus had entered the dorm. He and Hermione spoke at the same time, although Hermione was careful to only direct her words to Remus, while Sirius' was directed to both her and Remus.

"He's not my father."

"What kind of bracelet?"

Remus looked up at Sirius, and gently tugged Hermione forward by her wrist, holding it out for the two boys to see. The bracelet was thin and looked like a homemade friendship bracelet, hardly conspicuous to anyone who didn't know Hermione. She didn't have any good female friends for her to get a friendship bracelet from. She could only possibly get them from the boys, and none of them were really the jewelry type.

Sirius stood from where he had been perched on his bed, lounging against one of his bedposts. Much like James, Sirius had been upset greatly by Hermione saying those things to him. But unlike James, who was showing his feelings by being angry all the time, Sirius instead sat sadly and pondered why Hermione had said such an awful thing. After all, it was _Hermione. _Hermione who had shown up outside his house, Hermione who had been so lost, so helpless, homeless. Hermione who had been so obviously muggleborn at that moment, Hermione who had spoken about it with him many nights. How could she change her point of view so quickly, just because she was adopted by a pureblood? It had hurt him so much, much more than it could have James, simply because it was a secret that the two of them had shared, spoken about. And he in turn had spoken to her, and only her, about how awful living with his parents was. How he was always the outcast, the blood traitor, the black sheep of the family. He tried to act like it didn't hurt, but it did. And when he had run away that summer to the Potter Mansion, where he knew he was always welcome, he would have felt better about it if he had had Hermione's shoulder to cry on.

The tall, broad shouldered boy made his way over to the group standing in the middle of their dormitory, and his rough, calloused hands took a hold of Hermione's wrist, peering down at the handmade bracelet that was tied around her wrist. Her usually milky skin was bright red and burned under the bracelet, and when he saw it, his eyes closed, and he sucked in a breath.

"Mione…" He breathed, tugging on her arm gently, and pulling her closer to him.

"What is it?" James asked, not having seen the likes of the bracelet before.

But Sirius had. Sirius had seen as bracelet like this in his own home. His father had threatened him with one at the start of the summer, before he'd run away. He knew exactly what it was, and what it did. And his heart ached for the beautiful young witch who stood before him. "Why didn't you just…tell us?" He asked, looking down at her.

Hermione shook her head and back away from him, rubbing her sore wrist.

"Because she can't talk to you. Both of you." Remus answered for her.

Sirius glanced up to James, to see him frowning in confusion. "Wait, what does this bracelet even do?" He asked.

It was now that they all took a seat on James' bed, Hermione and Remus sitting at one end, James and Sirius leaning against the headboard at the other. And Hermione began to tell them – well, Remus – what the bracelet did, and why she said those awful things.

"My father was there, that day." She said slowly, glancing up at Remus. "When I…said those awful things. He was in the shop over the road. So not only was this," She played with her bracelet as she spoke "burning me, he was watching, waiting for me to muck up and talk to you. I would have gotten in trouble." She bit her lip.

"But not only that. I mean, I know I could've just ignored you, walked away, it would've been better than saying those awful things. But I heard him…talking to someone. In his office. Talking about keeping an eye on me, watching me, making sure I act like a proper pure-blood, or something. I have a really bad feeling that if I don't…something will happen to me. Something bad." She breathed out a small sigh and glanced over to the two boys sitting opposite her, before looking back at Remus to speak again.

"I'm sorry. I really am. You don't have to forgive me, I just want you to know how awful I feel about it."

The two sitting on the other side of the bed were quiet for a long time, taking in all the things she had said, before James spoke.

"I forgive you, Mione." He said gently, nudging her outstretched leg with his foot. When she glanced at him, she saw he was smiling very lightly.

Sirius nodded slowly, along with James, and glanced at the girl. Things might be different, or strained between them all for a little while, but they would eventually get back to normal.

"Me too, love. You're forgiven. For now." He smiled at her.

"Now, about that bracelet…" He looked at Remus. "Only the person who put it on can take it off…" He sighed.

"In the meantime we can flog something to heal her burns from the hospital wing, then." Remus said.

"But," Sirius continued, smiling a little. "I'm sure there's a spell to make it useless. I could sneak back to my parents' house in the holidays, I'm sure there'll be something in one of the books there."

"No! Sirius, it's too dangerous!" Hermione objected, wincing a bit as her bracelet burned her.

"Vixen, love, you go back to your father for Christmas like that and you're screwed." He said, looking at her.

Hermione hesitated on responding. "Actually, I'm seeing him tomorrow, In Hogsmeade…" She whispered.

Sirius rubbed his temples, as the other two muttered, "Tomorrow?" in surprise.

"Right, then. We'll get you some stuff to heal the wounds, and then…well, we'll just have to wait and see what he does." Sirius said quietly.

The rest of the day was spent flogging a couple of vials of healing potion from the hospital wing, which they applied to Hermione's wrist immediately, and sitting in each other's company now that their group was whole once again.

It was when the three boys were in the bathroom getting ready for bed that night when Hermione allowed herself to let her tears run, curled up on Sirius' bed wearing one if James' t-shirts and a pair of Remus' pajama pants. She'd missed her marauders, so terribly, and she was so happy to be back where she belonged.

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked, sliding onto the bed beside her and resting his head beside hers on the pillow.

"I- I'm just happy I guess." She whispered, wiping at her eyes. "I know it's silly. But these last couple of weeks have been so awful without you lot. I was going crazy." She chuckled slightly, and glancing up at Sirius, only to see her own feelings reflected back in his eyes.

"I know what you mean. It's not silly, love. We were all pretty down in the dumps about it." He said, rolling onto his back and looking up at the canopy above his bed. "I couldn't believe you'd said those words. I was so upset, after everything that had happened, I thought you'd be there for me when I left my parents…it hurt so much when all you did was call we awful names and leave."

Hermione watched him out of the corner of here eye. "I'm sorry." She whispered, reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. "I didn't want to hurt you. That's the last thing I would ever want to do to you." She murmured, glancing at him.

He nodded as she spoke, but stayed silent for a few moments. Glancing at her, he smiled slightly. "It's all done and dusted now. No point in getting all mopey over it." He murmured, reaching for the vial of healing potion under his pillow. He put a fresh dose on her wrists, before pulling the covers up over them both and curling up beside her. "Happy birthday, Mione." He murmured, pressing a kiss to her hair, before closing his eyes and trying to get some sleep.

A very happy birthday indeed.

_**A/N You guys are probably wondering like, wtf, her birthday? Think back ^-^ the floating cupcake? It's her birthday, but obviously with everything having happened between them in the weeks beforehand they wouldn't really feel like celebrating. But Hermione's happy enough just to be back in their lives. That's a good enough present for her. Please review and favourite etc :3 The big scheme will come out in the next chapter, so keep your eyes peeled! What do you think will happen?**_


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